


and it was burning, bleeding red

by ceruleanstorm



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Avengers: Age of Ultron - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Crossover, Depression, F/M, Hiatus fic, Mental Illness, Post 3a, Torture, Wanda is a badass- end of story, cute telepathic conversations, possible triggers, post Age of Ultron, some freeform sprinkled here and there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6174934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceruleanstorm/pseuds/ceruleanstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When S.H.I.E.L.D encounters a  vicious new mind reader shortly after the events of Maveth, the team takes a devastating hit. It’ll take the help of outsider to take this new player down, and thankfully, their close friend Nick Fury is willing to lend them an Avenger. Only it’s not the Avenger they were hoping for…</p>
            </blockquote>





	and it was burning, bleeding red

**Author's Note:**

> May I present to you, three days before the premiere of 3B, 25k words of "I hope this works" :)

It looked like it was going to be rainy day for New York, so Steve Rogers had dismissed the newest recruits ten minutes earlier for a training exercise. _They’d did well today._ he thought to himself as he whistled down the hall. The team was now, after nine months of instruction, mastering Natasha’s strategy of emotional detachment. They’d mastered all of Steve’s curriculum a few months in, much to his chagrin. For today, he’d ordered them to clean the Cortex- without any powers- until the chrome of the tables blinded his perfect vision.

_If they do it right, I might give them a day off. That was I can take my own vacation._

Steve lost himself in the thought of going jacket shopping in Brooklyn and maybe visiting Peggy’s nursing home, and he almost missed Natasha’s voice over his Comcast.

Her crystal voice floated through his ears. “You got a friend in the lobby.”

“He say what he wanted?” Steve replied.

“I didn’t ask.”

Steve changed course for the lobby, and as he walked into the elegant windowed lobby adorned with exotic flowers and expensive artwork. There was a shadow cloaked in a familiar trench coat, staring out one of their glass windows that substituted for a wall.

 “I need a favor.” the shadow said.

“You just jump straight to point,” Steve started. “Don’t you, Fury.”

The eye patched man nodded, his hands behind his back. “Introductions were never my strong suit, Rogers, and I find them to be a waste of time.” Looking Steve right in the eye, Fury deadpanned “Should I repeat myself?”

“What kind of favor, exactly?” asked Steve. The two stood there in the silent lobby, each of their words bouncing of the marble tiles of the lobby.

“A friend of mine took charge of S.H.I.E.L.D after my death- “

“The one you refuse to tell Tony or me or any of us about?” the captain interrupted.

“Secrets are what I do, Cap.” Fury continued ignoring Cap’s comment. “Recently my friend’s been in pinch, made a few bad choices. Last week he and his team tried going against a crime boss off the coast of Greece. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but the boss turned out to be special. Your kind of special.”

Steve’s shoulders tightened. “Enhanced?”

“Enhanced, inhuman, or maybe just a phony, we don’t know. But what we do know is that their team isn’t strong enough to take him down.”

“Are you trying to say you want to bring in the Avengers?” concluded Steve. So much for his vacation.

Fury shook his head. “It’s not bad enough to bring in the big guys, well at least not all of them.”

A heavy feeling on Steve’s chest formed sas he began to understand where Fury was heading. “You want to bring in just one of us to work with your friend’s team to take down your bad guy?” It wasn’t a question. “Alright, who do you have in mind? You don’t exactly have a lot to choose from. Thor’s back in Asgard, Tony went back to New York, no one’s seen Banner in almost a year, and Barton’s farming. That leaves Nat and me.”

“For reasons I can’t reveal I won’t be sending you or Romanoff.” Fury turned to look at Steve, his worn face brandishing his signature smirk. “I was thinking bringing in one of your new recruits.”

“The new recruits. I don’t really think they’re field ready. Are you sure you really want to bring in-“

“Cap, it’s been 9 months. You team is _more_ than field ready. So tell me Rogers, how’s that new girl of yours?”

_

“Coulson, is this really a good idea?” Agent Melinda May sat with her legs crossed in a desk chair as she lectured Director Phil Coulson in his own office. The Director himself was pacing the room back and forth, sweating under the May’s persistent glare.

“Fury didn’t give me a choice, May. A-after Greece, he put his foot down and I can’t blame him. But something tells me this doesn’t have to do with what happened with Greece, does it?”

May rolled her eyes, and stood. “You’re not acting right and you know it.” Coulson tried to protest by putting his prosthetic hand up, but she continued. “You sent the team out too early. We weren’t ready to go against Arees and his men. He saw us coming and tore us apart _in five minutes_.”

“Well he was a mind reader.”

“This is not a joke, Phil! Hunter’s in crutches, Lincoln electrocuted _himself_ and I don’t even know what possessed you to _even_ send Fitz back in the field, but Simmons is no longer speaking to anyone. Now you want us to go back to Greece, with some Avenger, no less?”

May let her sentence hang in the air when a muffled British voice called from outside the office’s doorframe. “Did you say something about us working with an Avenger?!”

“Hunter?!” Coulson yelled back. “Are you eavesdropping again? We talked about this, Lance.”

“Again?” May asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Come out Hunter. You too, Bobbi and Daisy. I know you’re all there.”

Sure enough, Agent Hunter limped in on his crutches, followed by agents Bobbi Morse, Daisy Johnson and the two new guys, Lincoln and Joey, who were all hanging their heads in false shame.

“Anybody else?”

Next came biochemist Jemma Simmons, dressed in all a mourner’s black, and Leopold Fitz, S.H.I.E.L.D’s best field engineer. Mack, the second best engineer, “wandered” in a few seconds later looking around the office with his eyebrows raised to say the he was innocent. In response, Coulson pulled a May, and rolled his eyes.

“Do my children ever listen to me?” Coulson lamented as he through his hands in the air in mock defeat. Daisy shook her head laughing, her short brown hair waving around her head like a halo.

“To be honest,” Hunter offered, “we only wanted to listen to May tear you a new one.”

“Well, are you satisfied?” Coulson asked.

“No, we could stand to hear a little more.” laughed Fitz from the corner. When everyone else sent annoyed stares his way, he put his down in shame.

“So, what’s this about an Avenger?” Daisy asked, getting straight to the point. She put her hands on Coulson’s desk, and leaned over it like with the enthusiasm of an elementary schooler. Coulson looked to May for help, but she stayed silent as she pretended to be filing her nails. “You know you have to tell us! Please, please, please, please, please!”

 Coulson knew the pestering brought upon him by his team would be more annoying than he could handle at the moment and decided (against his better judgement) to break Daisy’s pleases and cave a few details. “Fury called in a favor with the Avengers. They’ll be sending one of their teammates to consult with the mission in Greece.”

The team shared a look of panic at the mention of Greece. After their humbling mess of a quick defeat, they were in no hurry to return to the island, even with a big bad Avenger on their side.

It was Hunter who broke the uncomfortable silence. “Maybe it’s Captain America!” he said with excitement as he waved his crutch around. Hunter’s passion for the American hero brought everybody out of their stupor, on the grounds that he was “almost to British to function” as Bobbi put it.

“Or maybe’s it Thor! I wouldn’t mind if he stopped by and disrupted our local gravity fields.” Daisy remarked with a laugh. Lincoln sent her a hurt look that she waved off.

“You know,” Fitz added, “I’ve always wanted to meet Tony Stark, maybe show him some of my inventions, get some feedback?”

“I haven’t seen Natasha in a while. It would be nice to catch up with her.” Bobbi put in, and May smiled in agreement.

Coulson smirked and stopped their wishes. Holding up his real hand, he declared, “Look I know everyone wants their favorites to come and help out, but I trust that Fury is sending the best Avenger – Captain America-“ he added quickly under his breath and everyone, including Simmons would had been sulking in the corner, laughed. “to help us out.”

“You mean Fury didn’t tell you which one he was sending?” May broke the laughter with her serious tone.

“May, it’s Fury. Fury’s secrets have secrets that are guarded by even bigger secrets!”

“That makes no sense.” Lincoln pointed out.

“Neither does Fury and neither do I, at least, not in the situation, why are even still talking about this!” Coulson burst out. His mood changed sent a shockwave through the room and there was unspoken step back taken by the team. Coulson took a deep breath before he looked at them again. “I’m sorry.” he whispered.

There lingered a few seconds of silence. Then Daisy was putting her arm around Coulson’s shoulders. It was a message of silent understanding from them all. Everything had, as Bobbi put it, gotten so fucked up, since Maveth. The team felt weak and cracked at it’s very foundation, left to break under the pressure of secrets. It was why Coulson sent them to Greece in the first place; going back to what they did best was, in his mind, they best way the team could get back to normal.

“You guys are trying I know, and I appreciate it. I couldn’t ask for a better team. Just so you know, Fury’s sending his consultant Wednesday, so that gives us a few days off.” Coulson patted Daisy arm and spoke directly to her, unable to look at Fitz or May and their knowing eyes. “Now _please_ , May and I have work to do, so go play the Wii or something!

“The Wii? What is this, 2007?” Daisy scoffed, but Hunter was already limping out the door shouting to the rest “I call first player!”

“I’m only playing if it’s Mario Kart!” Bobbi yelled as she ran after him.

Fitz followed her trail, pouting like a little kid. “No fair, Daisy _always_ beats me and he _always_ picks Toad before I can!” Mack strolled out of the room after Fitz with a smug smile on his face.

“Gotta go kick everybody’s sorry asses.” Daisy told Coulson. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Coulson nodded, and Daisy left the office hand in hand with Lincoln. Simmons and Joey shuffled three feet behind.

“Now, where exactly were we in this lecture? Oh yes, I remember. Greece.” May spoke up from behind the desk.

Coulson let out a strangled noise of frustration.

_

It was Bobbi’s idea that she and Simmons watch the plane with the mysterious Avenger land in the hangar. Simmons hesitated at first, but her curiosity overtook her anxiety and she followed her friend to hanger of the Playground. She expected they’d sit in the hangar, so she was caught off guard when Bobbi chose to sit by the wall of ramp that connected the plane hangar to the rest of the base.

After Maveth, Simmons did not even return to the base. When Fitz had relayed what had truly happened to Will upon his return, Simmons saw no other choice. She took an indefinite leave to go back home and see her parents instead, and told Bobbi she wouldn’t be seeing her for the next few months. But she had left things quite odd with Fitz, having not said anything to him after learning of Will’s death, and guilt forced her hand. Simmons returned after only three weeks of vacation, with a new prescription for PTSD and penchant for silence. The only time she spoke was when she snuck out every morning to see Fitz by their window. Because it was secret, because it was theirs.  

“And why are we sitting here?” Simmons asked Bobbi. It was the first sentence she had spoken since returning, with the exception of Fitz, after her leave. She hadn’t even said anything during the team’s six-hour marathon of Mario Kart. Simmons had opted to observe from the couch to watch Daisy “kick everybody’s sorry asses”, to absolutely nobody’s surprise.

“I told you.” Bobbi didn’t look at her, but craned her head around the wall to try and see. “So we could watch!”

“No.” Simmons deadpanned. “Why are we sitting here hiding behind the ramp wall and not in the hanger, exactly?”

“Coulson said we couldn’t watch the plane land because he didn’t want to overwhelm this “Avenger”” She reminded her, imitating air quotes around the word Avenger and rolling her eyes for emphasis.

Simmons nodded in understanding and took her seat next to Bobbi. “Is that why no one else is here? I’d expected Hunter would be salivating at the mouth-”

“Did you say something about Hunter?”

“Speak of the devil!” Bobbi shouted and then immediately moved to cover her mouth. After checking around the wall to make sure no one else had heard her, she swung around to face her ex-husband. “How do you get around so fast? Isn’t your femur was fractured!”

Hunter looked a little too proud in Simmons’s opinion. “It is babe, but I’m talented enough to get around, even on this eyesore!” he gestured to his bright white cast and then with the cast out, he slid down next to Simmons.

Bobbi rolled her eyes. She was on the brink of lecturing her ex when the three caught glimpse of Daisy and Lincoln racing each other down the hall.

Daisy skid to a stop and put her hand to stop her boyfriend. “Are we late?” they panted together.

“Just in time, loves!” Hunter flashed her a bright smile, patting the spot next to him. Much to his chagrin, Daisy and Lincoln took the opposite wall for the best view.

“Fitz and Mack are coming in a few minutes. Fitz wanted to brush off some old prototypes just in case it’s Iron Man.” Daisy informed them. A small smile broke on Simmons’s face.  She could easily picture her Fitz running around the lab, and ordering Mack to make sure every tiny piece was in order.

“So just Koenig and Coulson out there? Where’s May?” asked Lincoln.

“Right here.”

In a scene parallel to a cartoon, the five agents sprung several meters in the air in reaction to their superior’s voice, screaming bloody murder. They turned back to her with eyes wide like a group of drunk teenagers caught locking their parents’ liquor cabinet back up. May stood above them with her arms crossed, and a perfected glare.

Fitz, red with guilt, and a stoic Mack revealed themselves from behind her.

Sorry,” lamented Fitz. He bit his lip and Simmons’s stomach shifted. “May caught us tiptoeing out of the lab and berated us. Or me. Mack didn’t seem to care.” Fitz grit his teeth at the man, but he still didn’t seem to care.

May had her lecture prepared. “I thought we made it clear this morning,” she began.

Daisy gave a loose shrug, and Bobbi threw her head back in annoyance, but May continued. “Coulson doesn’t want you spying for a reason.”

“Oh come on, Mom! Isn’t Spying what we do here? And when was the last time we all had fun together?” Hunter begged the older agent.

“Monday, you all played Mario Kart for six hours.”

Hunter’s face fell and Daisy took the burden from him.

“If you’re so against then this why are you here?” she asked, her voice wry.

May opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a roar of thunder of hangar doors. In a split second, the eight were rushing to the edge of the walls, craning their heads to see the plane as it landed.

“Oh please let it be Captain America!” Hunter whispered to himself.

Simmons noticed he had his eyes closed like a child who was wishing on a star. For the second time she found herself speaking. “What happened to being too British to function? Should I consider this treason to the mother land?” she asked over his shoulder.

“What Simmons, are you going to go home and tell the Queen on me? Have you seen this man’s biceps?”

“Have you seen Thor’s biceps?” Daisy whispered, and this time Lincoln nodded.

The plane- a Quin-Jet- descended in its grandeur. The hangar swelled with wind and dust as anticipation and excitement gripped every Agent in its own way. After an infinity, the plane’s bay doors opened in slow descent, revealing two young women. The first they all recognized to be Maria Hill, dressed in her signature black uniform, and holding her clipboard; the other, they’d never seen before.

Simmons thought this woman couldn’t be more than 23 or 24. The lights of the hangar illuminated her high cheek bones, and reflected off the many rings on her fingers. Her long dark chestnut hair framed her soft face and shadowed eyes. She wore shiny black heeled boots that blended into black leggings; under a crimson trench coat, she wore a dark red corset laced up her torso that hugged her curves, but the commemorated something medieval. Below the shoulders, she brandished the unmistakable A of the Avengers’ logo. Simmons’ stomach dropped with a twinge of disappointment.

Hunter vocalized what they all were thinking.

“Who the _hell_ is she?”

_

“Well, Coulson.” Maria Hill told the director as she shook his hand. “I didn’t think I’d be see you again anytime soon.” They stood in the cramped bay of the Quin-jet. Koenig shadowed Coulson, bouncing with excitement.

“I can say the same to you, Hill. Heard you’re working for Stark now.” Coulson smirked when she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. But in my defense, he pays double what S.H.I.E.L.D did, and I get to hang out with the Avengers every day, so take that.”

Coulson narrowed his eyes. “You win this round, Hill.”

Hill then stepped aside to introduce her counterpart. “This Wanda Maximoff. She’s one of our newest recruits, and one of our most skilled. Fury has cleared her to work on the Greece mission.”

The young woman, Wanda, strode forward, and took Coulson’s outstretched hand. When she spoke, her accent was sharp and thick. “It’s nice to meet you Director Coulson. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.”

“It’s, ugh, it’s nice to meet you to you too, Agent Maximoff-“

“Please,” she stopped him with a panicked look. Coulson swallowed; did her eyes just turn _red_? “You can just can call me Miss Maximoff. Or Scarlet Witch, if you prefer.”

“Oh. Alright, then Miss Maximoff, I didn’t really see the accent coming. Where are you from?”

She answered him immediately with restored confidence and restored eye color. “Propetrov, Sokovia.” There were a few minutes of shocked silence until she added, “I hope this does not deter you.”

“Uh, not at all.” Coulson assured her. “This is my colleague, Agent Koenig.” Koenig shot through to grab the woman’s hand.

“It’s an honor to meet you, it really is, I’m such a fan!” He talked fast, and shook her braced hand with brute force.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Agent Koenig.” she smiled. Her shadowed face lit up in amusement.

Coulson fought the urge to roll his eyes at Koenig; he hadn’t ever heard of this “Scarlet Witch”, and was not her fan. Even Coulson, the Director, had no clue which Avenger (correction: _junior Avenger_ ) would show up on his doorstep this morning. There had been no word from anyone in any intelligence agency of any new additions to the Earth’s mightiest heroes. No one had heard the name “Wanda Maximoff” or “Scarlet Witch”. She must’ve hopped on the ride when they were in Sokovia.

“Please,” Koenig blushed bright red. “Call me Sam.”

Coulson broke Koenig’s fangirl episode. “He’ll be showing you around while I catch up on some housekeeping issues. I have to notify my team of your arrival”

“Of course.” she nodded. “But you could just tell them now. They’re hiding behind those walls” With the grace of a ballerina, the _junior_ Avenger pointed her fingers at the walls of the ramp. Hill tilted her head to see out, and made of noise of agreement.

“Oh, _c’mon!_ Again? What did I say about eavesdropping?” Coulson called to the ramp. Sure enough, six ashamed agents, May, and Mack sulked out down the ramp to lay of the plane.

At the base of the Quin-jet, Hunter, leading the rest on his crutches, threw a disdainful look at Wanda Maximoff. “That it got in the way of your work… but you also told us we were getting to work with an Avenger.” Coulson turned his back on Hunter to Koenig and Wanda. From his periphery, he saw his team huddling and throwing curious and disappointed glances at Wanda.

“As I was saying before I was _so rudely interrupted_ , Koenig is going to show you to your room and give you a little tour of home sweet home. Meet back, say uh, in twenty minutes?”

Koenig nodded in understanding. When he and Wanda Maximoff exited, the junior Avenger purposefully flashed the Avengers logo on the duffel bag over her shoulder as she passed the team. Coulson’s eyes followed Koenig as he left before he turned back to Hill.

“Fury didn’t tell me he recruited more Avengers.”

“He didn’t. This was the team’s call.” Hill clarified. “Along with her, there are three other new recruits. Look Coulson, Wanda fought in the Battle of Sokovia and she’s been training with Steve and Romanoff for almost a year. She knows what she’s doing. Fury wouldn’t have authorized this if she didn’t, though the other new Avengers did tell me to tell you, that if anything happens to her- “

“You don’t need to finish that sentence, Hill. What, exactly, uh can she do?” Coulson asked. In response, she handed him a manila file.

“Neuro-electric interfacing, telekinesis, and mental manipulation.”

“She’s enhanced?” The idea of having both an enhanced and three inhumans all in an underground base with a bunch of trained agents made Coulson’s stomach turn.

Hill nodded. “You needed help taking down a telepath, we found you some. Fight fire with fire.”

 Quickly, Coulson flipped through Wanda Maximoff’s file.

_"E* Wanda A. Maximoff…Ethnicity/Race: Sokovian… Age: 24… Family: E* Pietro Maximoff (deceased)… Allergies: Penicillin… Diagnoses: Chronic depression, panic attacks…"_

“Struker. She’s one of Struker’s, isn’t she?”

Hill grimaced. “The last one, yeah. There was a twin, a speedster interestingly enough- “

“What happened to him?”

“He died.” replied Hill with poise. “Ultron shot him five times, as he was saving Clint Barton’s life. The sister is cut from the same cloth. My personal advice for dealing with her: don’t bring up her brother, and relax. Wanda can sense when you are tense. It’s just going to make her more tense. Just take it easy, and you’ll make this telepath your bitch in no time.”

“Thanks for that, Hill.”

Coulson was caught off guard when she turned on her heel and boarded the Quin-jet. Before the bay doors could close though, Coulson called back in shock “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do you think?” she gestured with both hands to the rest of the plane. “Back to my super cool job of hanging out with the Avengers!”

_

As they stepped through the hall, Koenig’s waves of excitement hit Wanda one of after another with the syncopation of a metronome. He chattered on endlessly and with intimidating speed, and soon Wanda forwent listening to his words in exchange for listening to the exuberant man’s emotions. From what she gathered, with a familiar pang, was that this man had not long ago, experienced the loss of one of his triplet brother. This ache still bleed into the man’s happy sentiment, even with what time had passed. He talked on, nevertheless, of S.H.I.E.L.D. this and S.H.I.E.L.D that, of history and loyalty, of tradition and patriotism, never giving a second thought to the sadness that poisoned every pulse of his emotions.

Despite the familiarity of Koenig’s sadness, and the addiction that came with it, Wanda soon found herself growing bored of the waves that had turned from excitement of her arrival to awe of the organization she now walked. Her mind began to wander.

She chose next to focus on the feeling of where she was. Wanda spread her psyche, like a butterfly spreading its wings, to rest of the building, feeling and searching for other areas of energy to create a spider web of red. She braced herself for the impact of feedback, and twisted her neck when it hit her. It was a nauseating sensation that came as a side effect; she wondered if she would ever adjust to the initial shock.

Ghosts of an aching aging building flooded her own memories, but she pushed past these to the concentrated area of energy- human energy- radiating and spiraling out from the exact center of the Playground. _That_ , she thought, _must be Coulson’s “team”._ Auras of tension and disappointment flooded her conscious like a billion waves all from a billion different oceans.

_A billion different oceans…_

Wanda had been shocked when Captain Rogers had pulled her aside after a particular rough training session in which Natasha sought the destruction of Wanda’s calves, and informed her she’d been handpicked by Fury to assist with a field mission. After the Fall of Sokovia, and her initiation into the Avengers as Scarlet Witch, Wanda had been on several field missions with her new comrades. It was tricky and stressful in the beginning to work more than one person, especially when several of them were so obviously uncomfortable with Wanda’s way of communicating. After many bumps in the road and compromises on her part, harmony was born, and they could work as a team. It wasn’t too long until her new teammates adjusted to Wanda’s odd form of telepathy, and found it to be an excellent advantage against enemies.

“Are we not going as a team?” she replied. Wasn’t that what all of their training for? Only Captain Rogers shook his chiseled jaw, and corrected her “we” to you. He informed her of the restored S.H.I.E.L.D, paused for her to take a deep breath and bite her lip, and then told her of their recent failure against an enhanced crime boss in Greece. He explained that if she was willing, her help in taking down the enhanced would be appreciated by a group of honorable and heroic people. She would be doing what she had signed up for.

She told the captain she would do it. It was a chance to prove herself.

Two days later she stood in the Cortex, a silly name they had given to the dining room of the Facility after a TV show, wearing her red uniform and carrying Pietro’s old duffel bag on her right shoulder.  It was now a waiting game for the arrival of Agent Hill and her Quin-Jet. “You don’t have to do this Wanda. You can back out. No one will blame you.” Captain Rogers told her. He sat at a silver table with Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and The Vision. All stared at her with the worried expressions that mirrored their Captain’s.  “If this makes you too uncomfortable,” She put her hand to stop her mentor.

“I will be fine, Cap. It’s my job.” Wanda assured him. She then glanced around the table at the faces of her teammates and new found friends, her gaze lingering a second longer on The Vision’s gentle façade. “I will see you all soon, okay? And when I return I will tell you all about this mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D and how they needed _me_ to get a job done.” The group shared a chuckle that warmed Wanda’s cheeks, but the worried look’s remained. The Vision would not look at her.

 _I promise I will be okay._ She pushed the thought to the forefront of her mind, imbruing it with all the bravado she could muster. _I will miss you._

 _I will not be far,_ was the response.

 “And here,” Koenig was pointing at some broom closet or other back in the present. “is the...”

_Are you quite bored already? I presumed you’d only just landed._

It took much of her self-control not to smile, but she believed that Koenig, still chattering away, would not take notice of her sudden change in mood. He was not the telepath, after all. Wanda had not realized that in conducting her usual spread of her energy, she had reached back to a familiar connection. Or maybe he was just listening.

_It wasn’t boring at first, my Vision._

Her friendship- relationship- was with The Vision was a strange one. A strange one that left butterflies in her stomach and her cheeks the color of her manipulations. While her other teammates, especially her mentors, were so hesitant at first of her mere presence, it was different with The Vision. The child of Vibranium and the Mind Stone seemed eager to learn how Wanda’s enhancements worked. He kept his mind open for her at any moment for her to explore as well knowing that she was just as curious. He gave off such a pull of loneliness and compassion, and she was so lost in the mourning of her beloved Pietro, they were drawn like magnets to one another. Endless hours as sparring partners and required team building exercises had made them friends, sleepless nights stargazing on the rooftop and speaking without words had made them… something else, in Wanda’s mind.

_Neither are any of Rhodey’s tales of acquisition either, but even I must admit my mind wanders during them._

Wanda bit her lip to keep from laughing. Koenig paid no notice still. “Agent May likes to keep tabs on all the agents during this process…”

_How was the flight?_

_Quiet, even for Agent Hill. She was preoccupied with seeing her friend again._

_The mysterious one, if I may infer?_

_Yes. The man himself though is not mysterious at all. Reading him is like reading a children’s book._

_Am I to presume that all of S.H.I.E.L.D is this way?_

Now Koenig was showing her Director Coulson’s office and explaining the rule against eavesdropping. Wanda once more wanted to laugh at the sheer irony of these people. Speaking of eavesdropping…

_Should you and I even be discussing S.H.I.E.L.D? Agent Hill said I am not to have any direct communications within the base._

_I suppose this is not a violation. They cannot track your thoughts. Besides, you were the one that reached out to me, I might remind you._

_Well, you’re far more interesting to talk to._

_I value the compliment. Everyone is inquiring about you._

_Oh, really? Is it because they ate all my brownies and want me to come back to make more?_

_For Rhodey, perhaps, only he left a few hours ago with Mr. Stark._ Wanda flinched in an automatic reflex to the name Stark. How a name could carry such dark connotation…

Vision must have sensed her shift in mood, because he added in a quick rush: _But Sam is genuine in his asking and I believe Steve and Natasha are too. Shall I tell them you are well- or just bored?_

_Whatever you think. With any luck, I won’t be bored for long. But I thought you were leaving with Rhodey? Did Stark take back his invitation? He was very much looking forward to your weekend of parties and drunken women._

_I was, at first._ She and Koenig were turning a corner. The flickering light of the fluorescent bulbs above, reminded her of the Facility and it’s shiny, not concrete, linoleum tiles that reflected the light. She felt a stab unexpected homesickness. _But I felt it best to stay behind at the Facility. I have no interest in parties or drunken women, Wanda._

She bit her lip, and waited for the comment about she misunderstood Stark, but it never came. So instead she tried to mull it over. _You could still go, Vision. There is no need to be shy. Stark enjoys your company._

_Your words are encouraging, but I have made my decision. Besides, our Facility is never quite empty of activities to amuse myself with._

Again, Wanda smiled. She felt the constant tug of sadness emanating from his mind. Of how she could convince him of his worth, she was unsure.

Koenig had stopped in front of metal panel at the end of the hall way. He fumbled for several awkward seconds for something in his pocket before finally pulling out a long black lanyard with a S.H.I.E.L.D logo printed navy on the card.  After he held the lanyard up to a square blue panel mounted in the concrete wall, the metal panel slid open with a buzz to reveal a small enclosure with aching concrete walls and small lonely bed huddled in the corner. “This is your room.” Koenig told her with a toothy smile.

“Homey.” Wanda remarked.

Koenig’s waves did not shift, nor did he notice any change in Wanda’s mood. “You can go ahead and put your bag down, and we can keep going with the tour.”

But Wanda repositioned the bag on her shoulder, and took a step in the room. “If you don’t mind, Agent Koenig, I’d prefer to stay here and rest before your director’s debriefing.” Such was true; Wanda wanted to preserve the energy she’d need to read the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents and to keep her web of hexes powered.

_Now who’s being shy?_

_Oh, be quiet._

Koenig’s waves of excitement turned to hurt, and the sudden change sent angry pulses through her central nervous system. “You don’t want the rest of the tour?”

“I will, but maybe another time?” she smiled down at the man. Her shoulders relaxed when his waves reversed.

“Of course, of course.” He handed her the lanyard, as it dawned on her she was expected to wear it. “You’ll need this to get into your room, and the showers, and the Debrief room.”

Great, now she was next step above a prisoner.

Koenig was headed off, but not without one last reminder. “Oh, don’t forget- mission debrief in five minutes!” He jogged down the cold hall and hurriedly pulled out a cellphone. “Bill! You’ll _never_ guess who I met!”

Wanda threw the duffel bag on the bed. It was stripped of any blankets or pillows, and the room had no natural light, only electric. Noticing the lack of sunlight overwhelmed instantly her with the familiar suffocation smoldering through her lungs. The room began to shrink with the pace of the flickering fluorescent lights.

_Captain has asked for a report in about an hour. Shall I reach out then?_

The thought was thrown into the back of her mine from the force of her anxiety. She couldn’t articulate a reply.

“I’m not back there, I’m not back there.” She chanted to herself. Her lungs were tightening, rendering her unable to breathe.

_Wanda? Wanda! Is something wrong?!_

_I’m not back there!_

_Wanda!_

She gasped and her chest imploded. Then, as it had started, it ended. The feel of the Vision’s panic snapped her out of her own. He continued to pull at their connection until she took hold.

_I’m sorry, I’m here…_

_Wanda, will you tell me what is wrong?_

_It’s just, the room they gave me… all its missing is a screen._

Looking around the sad room, soaking in the barren energy, she found herself reminded of the cold, the dirty, the eyes of the doctors… the relentless electricity of yellow deteriorating through her veins, burning every cell in her body until she glowing, burning a violent red.

 

_

Simmons was in no mood to stand in a room with seven other people and wait for Coulson to finish his phone call to Fury. She stood in close proximity to Fitz, who was glancing around the debrief room as at the others. May sat in the corner looking her normal bored, the Power Rangers huddled together arguing in stage whispers, while Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter stood in the center exchanging looks.

“Did you see her eyes?” Simmons heard Lincoln whisper to Joey and Daisy. When Wanda Maximoff had passed them her on way out of the hangar, they had seen her iris turn the color of her uniform. It both intimidated and infuriated Simmons.

“How they flashed red?” Joey asked. “That was wicked!” He sounded like the little kid from that one Pixar movie.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Do you think she’s inhuman?”

“No, wouldn’t we have heard about it? If an inhuman joined the Avengers?” Daisy asked her boyfriend, but he shrugged.

Hunter saw his chance. “My question is,”

Bobbi whispered an “oh my god”, but Hunter was too far gone. “Why haven’t any of us heard about new Avengers? Let’s do roll call- you’ve got Captain Biceps, the rich new Yorker, May’s bad ass friend, Daisy’s mancrush, the big green guy, and the other one, I always forget his name” Hunter snapped his fingers and his ex-wife came to his rescue.

“Hawkeye?”

“Yes! Hawkeye! That’s everybody! So unless Black Widow grew out her hair and dyed it-“

“According to Hill, there’s four new avengers.” The group turned in collective to the sound of their director’s voice. He walked into the room, without Wanda Maximoff, waving a manila folder. “Wanda’s one of four new Avengers that joined after the Battle of Sokovia.”

“So who are the others?” Bobbi asked with a wave of her hand.

“I don’t know. In exchange for keeping the secret that I’m currently breathing, Wanda doesn’t reveal the identities of her new teammates.” shrugged Coulson.

Mack raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“They want to protect something.” Their director explained. “There’s even a note from Steve Rogers here- _“Dear S.H.I.E.LD’s director, in exchange for the secret of your identity we ask that we not reveal the other identities of the New Avengers. We are not ready to go public with this team yet and are taking precautions against any involvement on the media’s part. We also ask that you take good care of Miss Maximoff, or you will meet the other identities of this new team very quickly and_ ” Coulson paused to bring the note closer to his face “Oh! _“an arrow through your hand courtesy of Clint Barton. Good luck taking down the bad guy, Steven Rogers.”_ ”

Hunter spoke up from behind Mack. “I had no idea the Avengers were so bloody protective.” 

“It’s not like she’d need it. According to her file the girl’s got a nasty rep.”

“What can she do?” asked May.

Coulson brought the file back to his face. “Neuro… neuro-electric interfacing, whatever that means, mental manipulation, and telekinesis. Get this: She is the only surviving volunteer to go through Struker’s experimentation program.”

 “So she’s enhanced, not Inhuman?” Daisy piped up, then turning to the other inhumans, she added “Remember boys, Inhumans are totally better!”

Their Director nodded. “You should probably know that she worked with Ultron. According to this file, while she and her twin brother were doing Ultron’s bidding, she landed a hit on every single Avenger, except Hawkeye interestingly enough, with her interfacing. For some reason the two switched sides and helped the Avengers in the Battle of Sokovia. Hill says she saved a lot of people that day.”

As his words hung in the air, the hair on the back of Simmons’ neck stood on end as the familiar sensation of being watched overtook her. She surveyed the room with the twist of her vision, but nothing…

May shifted in her chair. Simmons followed her gaze to the shadows of the other end of the room. “What does her interfacing do to someone?”

“According to the few reports in here it basically makes you live through your worst nightmares.” Coulson responded, his voice strained.

A layer of silence washed over the room under the revelation that this Wanda Maximoff had the twisted ability to create your worst nightmares. After a few seconds of pregnant silence, Simmons found herself speaking. “You said she was the only survivor of Struker’s experiments, but in the file in mentions a twin brother? What happened to him?”

“He was- “

“Ultron killed him.”

At the sound of her distinct Eastern European accent, the team jumped several meters in the air for the second time that day. They turned in sync to see Wanda Maximoff standing in a dark shadowed corner where May had been staring earlier.

“You said 15 minutes, it’s been twenty.” she voiced. Her tone was breathy and cold.

“How long have you been standing there?” Hunter asked, his cheeks pink in outrage.

“Some time. I am surprised you didn’t notice, she saw me.” The Avenger gesture her wrist toward May. “And she noticed.” She then turned to Simmons. “So this is your team” she spoke while she stepped to Coulson.

“Yep, everybody’s here. This is my right hand, Agent Melinda May, and this is Agent Mack, Agent Barbara Morse-“

“Bobbi.” The blonde corrected.

“Agent Lance Hunter,”

“Ignore him,” she then added.

“Hey!”

“Agent Daisy Johnson, Lincoln and Joey, they’re consultants right now, and last but not least, Agents Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons.” To everyone’s shock, Wanda waved to them all, the plethora of rings catching the light as she did. The each gave a paralyzed wave back, except Simmons, who froze.

“I want to know of this crime boss.” She told them. “Captain Rogers was told it was failure by Fury, but I want to hear your side of the story.”

At her persistence Coulson began to recount the tale of their messy Grecian mission. He started with the basics: A month ago, they’d been notified by an anonymous tip that a local mafia had hold of Hydra weapons and was using them to cross of a list of people who didn’t agree with the mob.

“The tip came with a list of local politicians who had gone missing. According to the file, they were being bribing the mafia for votes and cooperation. Looks like the relationships had gone bad, and 14 men have gone missing since last December.” Bobbi explained, and Wanda nodded in understanding.

“Corruptions pretty rampant in that Middle and Eastern Europe.” Fitz explained. “Politicians there do stuff like this all the time.”

“I know this, Agent Fitz. _I_ grew up in Eastern Europe.” Wanda’s mouth lifted in a smirk. Fitz’s face fell in embarrassment and Simmons wondered how much trouble she could get in for punching an Avenger in the mouth.

“Two weeks ago, we flew to Greece only to find that the location the mafia was running out of was abandoned. We did find several crates of advanced hydra weaponry though, and from there we were able to track down their location. That should have been our first clue.” Coulson expanded. “We found them off the coast of Eros. Their operation had grown significantly from their last one. Even with our best agents, it was obvious we were outgunned and outnumbered. We had Agent Daisy as well as Lincoln and Joey go in with Fitz to try and either deactivate the Hydra tech or take them back to the Bus; Hunter, May, and Bobbi went in to find the politicians.”

Coulson paused, and Simmons grimaced. She did not enjoy this next part.

“Continue.” The Avenger pressed.

“The mafia boss, a man who took on the title Ares, was there that night, and met May’s party on the way. May and Bobbi were able to fight their way out of the first round of his men after a bad fight ended Hunter up with a broken leg.” Coulson sent May a look to take up the story, who stood from her chair.

“When Bobbi and I confronted Ares, he knew things. Things he shouldn’t have known. He recounted, in exact detail, our exit path, our extraction plan, and the location of Fitz and Daisy.”

Wanda Maximoff frowned and brought her hand to her chin. “Could the plans have fallen into his hands? Or his men could have told him of Agent Fitz’s location?”

“The plans were never written down.” answered Fitz.

“And up until that point, my team hadn’t faced any of Ares’ men.” added Daisy.

“After that he started telling us our own secrets.” Bobbi started where Agent May had left off. “Horror stories from my childhood, May’s own past. Stories none of us have _ever_ told a single living soul.”

“You think Ares is a telepath?” Wanda concluded in a soft whisper.

“When we fought through his men, he had more waiting at the door of a secondary exit route.” continued May. “Bobbi, Hunter, and I formulated on the way. Then he sent men to dispose of Daisy’s team.”

At this point, Daisy and Fitz, and every once in a while Lincoln, jumped in with a similar tale. Ares knew their escape plan, their other escape plan, and their dirty secrets. Like May’s team, Daisy’s team barely made out alive.

“What do you plan on trying the next time?” Wanda asked, but was met with strained silence.

 “None of you want to go back, do you?”

“It’s been a rough couple of months.” Bobbi told her. “This was just the icing on the cake.”

Wanda let out a long exasperated sigh. “I understand that you are scared of Ares, and as corrupt as I know Greek politicians to be, there are men whose lives are on the line. Do you not think of their families? Of their children or of their country? Is this what S.H.I.E.L.D does? Give up after one try?” The tired agents crumbled from her fiery gaze.

“Well you’re the Avenger here, what do you suggest?” mumbled Hunter in a defeated tone.

Wanda took a deep breath and placed her ring fingers on her forehead. “Did Agent Fitz dissemble the weapons?” Fitz shook his head, his face still red. Simmons was tempted to put a comforting hand on his shoulder like she used too. “Then we’ll deploy a new strategy, an Avengers one. I will take Agent Fitz to dissemble the weapons, Agent Morse, Agent Mack, and Joey will rescue the politicians, and Agent Johnson, May, and Lincoln will create a distraction.” She finally turned to the four left. “Coulson and Hunter will monitor the mission from here.”

“And me?” Simmons asked, in an almost whisper.

“You should come. You are doctor, no?” Simmons shifted uncomfortably; she had not told her this detail. “In case there is a repeat of Agent Hunter’s injuries, your services will be useful. However, we have no need of you on the ground.”

The relief in her chest was momentous, angry though she was for Wanda’s tone.

“We still have one major problem- “

“The telepathy.” She interrupted Fitz. “I think there might a way to block Ares continuously from everyone’s mind.”

“Think? That doesn’t sound solid.” Coulson assented.

“It is merely an idea. It will need work, but give me 24 hours.”

“Of course, you can have it. I say the team leaves tomorrow. Everybody has until then to get what they need. Fury’s lending us a plane. We take off at three p.m. sharp.”

Everyone nodded and gave their Okay’s, but when Coulson turned to ask Wanda, she was already out the door, the trail of her red uniform blazing behind her. “Alright then. See everybody at dinner, I guess.”

-

_Captain is asking for a report. I told him you had landed and were going to speak with the team. Would you like to add anything?_

The Vision's thoughts came to Wanda as she sat in her lonely room on her bed with her knees hugged to her chest. She’d gone in a rush back to her container after the Debrief with Director Coulson’s team, dug through her duffel bag for the jar of emergency peanut butter and her big spoon, and collapsed on her empty bunk.

 _I’m leaving for Greece in tomorrow and I accidently took over their mission,_ she sent back with the spoon in her mouth.

 _How so?_ The Vision radiated amusement and Wanda imagined him laughing.

_They are a very broken team, more so than ours. Greece was a failure in their minds and they don't want to return. From what I’ve read of their minds, I don’t blame them for being humiliated, but..._

_But you flew out there to help them?_

_Precisely. I don't think I have enough peanut butter to last me until Thursday._ She was already a quarter way through her current one.

_This we expected. Sam and I snuck another jar in your bag while you were packing._

Wanda flooded their connection with relief and gratitude as she double-checked Pietro’s duffel bag for the second jar. When she found it she exclaimed _You are a saint!_ She had to fight back tears.

_Your welcome, Wanda. Am I permitted to ask about the team?_

Wanda settled back into the bed and tried to clear her mind to focus only his voice. _You know when you walk in a room, and everyone is staring at you? And not in a good way?_

_I am quite familiar with the feeling._

_They are wary of me, my Vision. I don’t have to read them to feel it. They don’t trust me._

_They do not know you, then._

_What other me is there to know? They hear the names Ultron, and Struker, and Sokovia and assume they understand me. Hill told them of my abilities and now all they do is project their unease onto me._

_That is rather unfair. However, the Avengers thought that at first as well, but they saw differently very soon. The real you that is a hero and eats peanut-butter in the middle of the night straight out of the jar._

Wanda smiled to herself. _You were never like the rest._

_I’ve had the honor of reading you._

There was a blissful moment of silence between the two like the many that were commonplace as they stargazed and held team building exercises. Even though she knew he could not see her face, she fought the burn the accompanied her blush. Trying to focus on her dilemma instead of her tangled emotions, she conveyed her experience with Coulson’s team.

_I’ve told you about Agent Coulson, but his right hand Melinda May is skilled in protecting her thoughts._

_How long did it take you?_

_About a minute of searching. She is occupied with details of her late ex-husband. Something rather… disturbing… happened to him…What’s rather interesting, is that the team has powered people. They call themselves Inhumans and have established a silent agreement that they are more powerful than enhanced._

_I believe that is known as hubris._ Wanda giggled. _What are they capable of?_

_Altering properties like vibrations, electricity, the dexterity of metal. But they weren’t as upset as the scientists of the team. Not only are the wave lengths between the two tangled and painful, but they act like the have a personal vendetta against me._

_You have only just met them. I believe you will prove them wrong, though._

Her blush came back with a vengeance and she forced it down with another bite of peanut butter. When he asked about the mission, she relayed to him the details of her plan that had led to her current dilemma.

_I believe I can connect their minds, using mine as the center, but I doubt they will open up to enough for me to establish a true connection._

_Have you ever attempted to connect that many minds?_

_The Fall of Sokovia was the only time, but the effect was in reverse. Besides, that’s not the biggest problem. How do I get them, who barely trust each other right now, to trust me? And how will I keep such a connection held if I’m focusing my energy on protecting Agent Fitz?_ She jammed the spoon into the jar of peanut butter in frustration.

_That is rather perplexing. Is it possible to use hold your psyche connection if you chose to fight hand to hand?_

_Maybe. But from what I have read from their memories of the fight, they were overwhelmed by Ares’ men. My hexes would work better against so many._

_Such a thought is more comforting and rationale. As for your dilemma, you could perhaps weaken your connection. Instead of connecting everyone to each other through your mind as you do with the Avengers, you could opt to anchor the S.H.I.E.L.D agents to only you_

“Shield…” she wondered out loud, staring at the spoon full of peanut butter.

_Perhaps a weak connection would work as a plan B, but you have given me a better idea, my Vision. Instead of protecting them from Ares’ telepathy by bringing their psyche in, I could broadcast mine out, as a shield._

The Vision was unresponsive for a second then, _A mind shield? Captain America would be proud, as I. Although, do you think it possible?_

_I do, actually! If I can manipulate a wavelength long enough-_

“Knock, knock!” A voice called from behind the metal door before it slid open to reveal Agent Daisy Johnson, who was radiating with excitement. “Dinner started and you weren’t there so I figured no one had told you…” Agent Johnson trailed off when she noticed Wanda and her wavelengths of excitement morphed into shock in having found an “Avenger” with a spoon full of peanut butter hanging in her mouth balancing the jar on top of her knees.

“Stress eating?” she asked with a sympathetic smile. “Do you still want to come to dinner?”

Wanda’s shoulder’s relaxed and she nodded as she slid the spoon out of her mouth.

_I will talk to you soon, Vision. Duty calls._

Not thinking in attempt to move fast, she flicked her wrist and levitated in scarlet the jar’s lid back on to the jar and put it along back with the spoon into Pietro’s bag. Agent Johnson’s hazel eyes went wide. Wanda stood and waited for the waves of judgement and speculation, but they never came. Rather, Agent Johnson planted her hands on her hips and exclaimed like a small child, “Okay, _that_ was pretty cool. My powers _sure as hell_ aren’t as convenient.”

Images of splintered redwoods, shattering arteries, and shaking mountains denied Agent Johnson’s chance to tell her own story. As the two walked out of the room and into the dimly lit hall, the S.H.I.E.L.D agent told her promptly, “You know, I’m actually really excited to have another powered female working with us.”

Wanda raised an eyebrow and asked, “Really? What happened to “Inhumans are totally better.” she mimicked Agent Johnson’s American accent. Agent Johnson bit her lip.

“Oh that,” she said. “Just trying to rally the troops you know. We’ve struggled recently to act as a team. I’m sorry for saying that, though. I had no idea you actually heard that conversation.”

Wanda only gave her a look. Agent Johnson nodded as they turned a corner.

“I still think it’s cool that you’re working with us.” She amended. Wanda suspected this change of heart came from seeing her little move with peanut butter. “Sometimes it feels kind of lonely to be so different.”

Agent Johnson’s sentiment resonated in Wanda. In the lineup of powerful and revered Avengers, Scarlet Witch was the odd one out.  She held back the sadness from bleeding into her words. “Do you not relate to Lincoln and Joey?”

“Oh, I do. But they’re guys, you know how that is. And sometimes you just want someone like you. I had my Mom for a little while, but she turned out to be a bad guy and tried to kill me.”

Wanda nodded once again, fighting off Agent Johnson’s memory of her life force being stolen from her body, and tried to focus on Agent Johnson’s more primary wavelengths.

“So what does what feel it like?”

“What does what feel like?” murmured Wanda, lost in concentration.

“Your powers.” Agent Johnson affirmed.

“Oh.” Wanda made a little shape with her mouth. It would be so much easier to show Agent Johnson in her mind instead of try to verbalize it. “Do you mean my hexes when I levitate things?”

Agent Johnson nodded for her to continue. “Yeah, well all of your wiggly-woo stuff.”

Wanda chewed on her lip before replying. How does one explain scarlet tinted visions and the wavelengths that spoke to her like a thousand whispers? “It varies, I think. When I look into someone’s head, I feel and see what they are feeling and thinking. My body and mind are in tune to every thought and emotion, a lot like your body is attuned to different vibrations.

My hexes are different. The best way I can describe it is my hexes are extensions of my own energy and the energy around me. I manipulate and broadcast it the same way you broadcast vibrations, but my hexes are more extensions of my mind, I believe, whereas your powers flow from your spinal cord.” Wanda lifted her eyebrow in question. Agent Johnson smiled in response as they turned another corner. On the face she seemed satisfied, but her thoughts betrayed her.

“When I manipulate someone’s mind, I feel every inch of their fear.” Wanda whispered.

Wanda’s psyche felt the change of Agent’s Johnson’s curious pulses to embarrassed ones. Attempting to cope with the awkwardness, the agent’s thoughts turned to her own abilities. “Did you know when I first metamorphosed, I actually blew up a few dozen trees?”

“I feel sorry for the trees.” Wanda remarked, and Agent Johnson let out a warm laugh. “I put fourteen grown men into a comatose state when my enhancements first emerged.” she admitted, half expecting Agent Johnson to shut down, but her wavelengths didn’t change. 

“I feel sorry for the grown men!” she kept laughing.

The two turned into a makeshift kitchen that also seemed to serve as dining area, and Wanda was hit with a myriad of new energy. Happiness, boredom, fatigue, irritation, pleasure, fear, regret, all so familiar to her mind like different tastes on her tongue. In the middle of the room stood three different tables from three different materials surrounded by a chaos of mismatched chairs. The stainless steel kitchen lined the walls. The beeping of the microwave harmonized with the fridge door opening and closing as Agent May searched for ingredients. Agents Simmons, Mack, Morse and Hunter picking at salads and pizza, sat at the table closest to the kitchen, while Joey and Lincoln were eating dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets at the farthest.

“Sit with us.” Agent Johnson said with another smile, and led her to the table with the other Inhumans. The rickety wooden chair protested when Wanda hesitantly took her seat next to the Inhuman Joey. Agent Johnson leaned down to kiss Lincoln on the cheek.

“Hey. babe.” Lincoln greeted her. He radiated pulses of adoration, confirming Wanda’s assumption they were dating. Agent Johnson left after asking Wanda if she wanted Raman noodles.

“It’s the only thing I can cook.” she shrugged. When Lincoln snickered, she kicked him under his chair.

“It sounds lovely.” Wanda replied.

That left her with the other Inhumans who sat in a silence that pained her mind. Lincoln kept his bright blue eyes glued on his plate while Wanda swallowed to the rhythm of Joey’s piercing waves of extreme discomfort.  She knew he was attempting to remedy this when, after several minutes of the extraneous quiet, Wanda heard the crinkling of metal. Joey was willing his metal water bottle to fold and smiling in amusement. Then, interrupting Joey’s handiwork was a quiet zap and loud ouch. Lincoln had sent a small bolt of electricity across the table and was smirking at Joey.

“That hurt, man!” Joey cried. Lincoln burst out into amused laughter and Wanda found it impossible to hold back a smile. A war had been started. Joey began crinkling Lincoln’s fork and water bottle; Lincoln retaliated by sending pulses of heat that burnt Joey’s dinosaurs.

As quickly as it had started, it was ended when the table began to vibrate. Wanda’s braced hands flew off the table and scarlet bled through the skin of her ringed fingers, but it was only Agent Johnson, having returned balancing two steaming bowls with one hand, the other palm stretched out at the table. “Much better.” She said, putting the Raman and chopsticks down. “You two are acting like five years olds in front of our guest.” she scolded like she was their mother.

“He burnt my chicken nuggets.” pouted Joey. Lincoln rolled his eyes, but he gave a few of his dinosaurs to his friend.

The rest of dinner past in a blur. Joey, Lincoln, and Agent Johnson talked about Mario Kart and other Inhuman politics that left Wanda homesick. She tried her best to eat the Raman noodles Agent Johnson had been kind enough to prepare, but she had already filled up on half a jar of peanut butter and the homesickness was stealing what was left of her appetite. She could imagine The Vision, smiling as he watched everyone else eat, Sam taking advantage of Rhodey’s absence to fill up the entire conversation with quirks about his friend, and her mentors rolling their eyes and sighing.

 Wanda also found it difficult to eat when should could feel the disappointed wavelengths coming from the other agents at the opposite end of the room.

 “Hey, Wanda!” exclaimed Agent Johnson, thieving Wanda’s attention from reading the others. “You should do a demonstration!”

 “You want that?” Wanda questioned. Her surprise leaked into her voice. Agent Johnson nodded with enthusiasm and waves of approval emanated from Joey and Lincoln.

 “Like the peanut butter thing! Or bigger, if you want!” the agent requested, ignoring her boyfriend’s raised eyebrows. “

 “Uh, okay.” Then every pair of eyes, including the indignant ones of the other table, rested on her.  Standing, she kept her boots shoulder width apart and raised her arms outward in what her mentors “The Witch’s Stance”.” The scarlet energy commenced in her veins with a kick, forming like starlight around her hands. With a deep breath and the smallest bends of the middle of her fingers, she willed the scarlet around the table and its patrons. Wanda smiled and took another breath, and brought the table soaring four meters into the air.

 As the three hung in the air, Lincoln and Joey were pale with petrifaction, but Agent Johnson was attempting to touch the scarlet surrounding her. Wanda lowered them with immense care to the ground. She then, just because she could, levitated Joey’s burnt chicken nuggets along with Lincoln’s plate and the two bowls of Raman into a nearby kitchen with the familiar fluxing of her muscles and the graceful movements of her hands. As she dispersed the red hex with another twirl of her wrist, the inhumans clapped in respect, and Wanda was hit with the dizzying pulses of apprehension from the other agents. She tried not to slump into her chair when she returned to the table.

“… showoff.” one of the four whispered.

“Don’t let give your opponents any satisfaction by blatant displays of emotion.” Agent Romanoff had told her when they had worked on “emotional detachment”. Wanda was determined to follow her mentor’s lead; keep a straight face despite her body burning with angry intensity.

 Pietro always had faith in her, The Vision had faith in her, so she must have faith in herself.

 She could do this.

-

Daisy excused herself after Wanda’s demonstration to make celebratory ice cream sundaes for the four of them. Daisy couldn’t cook having lived most of her adult life off of freezer meals and bowls of cereal, but she could manage Raman noodles and chocolate fudge sundaes.

She had to admit she was impressed with the enhanced girl. Wanda was no Inhuman, but damn, was she powerful. Her manipulations, she called them hexes, were stunning to witness. Daisy was almost, jealous of the color and vibrancy they possessed. Wanda herself was still a little creepy. Daisy understood why they had dubbed her a witch; Wanda’s movements and facial expressions were subtle and shadowed, from the small changes of her facial expressions, to the way she stood with her chest out, to the tiny tilt of her neck.

Daisy could tell Wanda was very uncomfortable at S.H.I.E.L.D. She looked over her shoulder, subtly of course, but often. When they entered the Kitchen, Daisy noticed Wanda looking for exits out the corner of her eye.

She could also tell the others were uncomfortable with Wanda, and for several reasons. One, she was a telepath and a telekinetic, and S.H.I.E.L.D _always_ had fantastic luck with those enhancements. No broken limbs ever. Two, they were in a grumpy mood because she wasn’t Captain America. Well Bobbi and Hunter were. Mack and May seemed wary of her danger, but didn’t look like they cared for any more than that, and FitzSimmons had been grumpy all the time now, for _other reasons_ in Daisy’s opinion.

Earlier when Daisy had been picking her favorite Raman flavors out of the pantry and warming up the water for the noodles, she overheard Fitz and Hunter grumbling to Bobbi and Simmons.

“Over course she’s sitting _with them_ , being powered and all.” Fitz whined. “Nothing special ‘bout us.”

“I know mate, it’s like it’s a Lindsay Lohan movie! “You can’t sit with us!”” Hunter mimicked in what he believed to be teenage American girl’s voice, but his accent came out like a shrill pissed-off bird.

Bobbi’s eye roll was evident in her tone. “Hunter, _please_ stop quoting Mean Girls.”

“Boo, you whore.” quoted Hunter, in response. Daisy heard Fitz choke on his pizza trying not to laugh.

“Look guys,” Bobbi was saying. “Abigail Williams here intimidates me too, but if you keep talking like that, I’m going to be ten times as scary as she is.”

“Good luck.” mumbled Fitz. Simmons said nothing, staring at her salad.

Now, as Daisy searched up and down in the fridge for the chocolate sauce, she heard them back at it again.

“Some show she put on.” Mack was muttering after a sip of beer.

“More like what a show off. The whole lot of them are.” Hunter responded. “Oh look at me I’m an Avenger! I’m an Inhuman!” He waved his hands and raised his voice again. Daisy couldn’t roll her eyes far enough back into her head. Hunter wasn’t usually _this_ annoying.

“Hunter, I told you to stop talking like that!” Bobbi scolded him. “Besides, you know how the Inhumans are. And if you had powers- or were an Avenger- you’d show off all the time! You show off all the time without powers!” She paused to stab her salad with her fork. “But I do see your point…”

Their whining gave Daisy an idea. If the Inhumans had come around to Wanda, then maybe…

“Hey Bob!” their face’s lit up in surprise when she came to rest her elbows on the table. “What do you think about having a girl’s night, tonight?”

Bobbi raised a blonde eyebrow. “We’ve never done that, Daisy.” she pointed out, but Daisy just shrugged it off.

“Which makes no sense because we’ve been here like three years and have never gotten together as girls. I think tonight is a perfect opportunity. Watch movies, drink some beer, kick the boys out.”

“Hey!” frowned Hunter.

“Okay, sounds fun.” Bobbi agreed, and then turned to Simmons, who wore a blank stare. “What do you think, Simmons?”

It took a few seconds of Daisy, Fitz, Hunter, and Bobbi staring Simmons until she broke. “Sure.” She responded in a small whisper. Daisy clapped her hands.

“I was thinking we could invite Wanda, too.” she told them. Bobbi whipped her head up to look at Daisy, then at Simmons, then to Daisy again as she took her hands and shook them as signal that said “Daisy, what the fuck?”

“Why not invite her?” Daisy countered. The rest of the group stared at her like she’d grown a second head until she added, “C’mon, guys! It wouldn’t be fair to just leave her out, and besides I think you’ll warm up to her once you meet her. She also could use some friends. When I went to go get her for dinner, because apparently everyone else just _forgot_ about her, she was sitting there all by herself eating peanut butter with a spoon straight out of the jar.”

Fitz choked again on his pizza. Elbowing Fitz in the ribs, she suggested “How about 8:30? Living Area?”

She waited with her arms crossed until Bobbi cracked. Simmons took a few seconds longer, but even she gave in eventually to Daisy’s puppy eyes.

“Fine.” Simmons said. “But there had better be a lot of beer.”

As difficult as it was to convince Bobbi and Simmons, it was a lot harder to convince Wanda. When Daisy asked after placing a glorious fudge sundae in front of her, Wanda bit her lip and looked over her shoulder at the door. Daisy did her best to explain it to her with the best nonthreatening approach she could muster. Her subtle facial cues continued to morph, and Daisy decided it was time to flat out beg.

“Please, please, please!” Wanda gave a long sigh, and tipped her head slightly to the right. “Please, please, please, please, Maximoff I can do this all day!”

“I had a twin brother, Johnson. _I_ can do this all day.” She told Daisy with a knowing smirk. “But… I will go to your Girl’s Night. If it is that important to you.”

“Yay! And like I said, I promise it will be really low-key and you can bring you trustee peanut butter with you!”

She agreed to meet her at 8:30 in Living Area, which totally made up for the fact that Joey ate half of Daisy’s sundae while she was begging Wanda, including the cherry on top.

 

-

Simmons did not want to go to Daisy’s girl party with or without Wanda Maximoff there. She was fatigued and quite worried about Fitz going back in the field the next day. Instead of a girl fest, Simmons wanted to take a hot shower and a good sized sleeping pill, and maybe sleep through a night not plagued with nightmares. But if she barricaded herself in her room, she knew that a worried Bobbi or hyper Daisy would come and knock her door down. So at 7:35, she took her time to make some instant coffee in the Kitchen, and slugged to the Living Area to find Bobbi plugging her iPod to a speaker and Daisy setting out colorful cans of soda pop. The smell of popcorn cooking was floating from the microwave.

“I couldn’t think of a movie to watch,” Bobbi was saying. “I thought about 10 Things I Hate About You or Mean Girls, but then Hunter would find a way to crash the party. Or I could illegally rent _The Force Awakens_.”

Daisy nodded. “No worries. We don’t have to watch a movie.”

“Good, cause I’m in the mood for some Taylor Swift.”

Simmons eyed the soda cans. Gripping her mug tighter, she announced her presence by saying “I thought you promised beer.”

“Yeah, that’s what we wanted originally.” Daisy didn’t look up. “But then we found out Wanda’s on antidepressants, and she can’t drink any alcohol.” Simmons wanted to turn on her heal and leave right then and there.

“How does 1989 sound?” Bobbi asked no one in particular. The first few beats of _Welcome to New York_ filtered through Simmons’ tired years and she took a spot on the couch. Daisy and Bobbi took seats next to Simmons and propped their feet on the wooden coffee table, popping open soda cans and jumping from conversation top to conversation topic through the song. When the music changed into _Blank Space,_ Simmons was running low on coffee and Bobbi asked. “Do you think she’s coming?”

“It’s only 7:50.” Daisy told her, taking another loud sip of her soda. Simmons was half expecting her to bail, as Daisy lip synced the lines _“Oh my God, who is she?”_ there was a shadow at the door, and Wanda Maximoff stepped through wearing her long dark hair in a ponytail on the top of her head, worn down pajama bottoms decorated with tiny Yoda’s, and black windbreaker with light blue arrows that ran down the sleeves. She looked a lot less intimidating out of costume, even if she was still wearing all her jewelry and black makeup.

“I didn’t know it was a PJ party.” laughed Bobbi.

“Sorry.” Wanda said, holding her arms. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Daisy responded by patting the seat on the couch next to her. “Actually, neither have we.”

“I thought it was common thing in America, to have sleepovers and such” She murmured as she sat down.

“Is this a sleepover?” Simmons asked in a panic. There went her plan to sleep and see Fitz the next morning.

“They didn’t let me when I was with the Nuns. And Simmons was too busy getting two advanced PHDs to hang out with any girlfriends, and Bobbi’s father was-

“An abusive bastard.” Bobbi finished for her.

Daisy nodded and continued to tell her story, “Pretty much. So none of us have ever been to a real sleep over. What about you? Did you have any sleep overs growing up in Sokovia?”

Wanda shook her head. “The civil war had been tearing my country apart since we were three. Follies like sleepovers were a safety hazard.”

Simmons took one last heavy swig, emptying her coffee mug. Daisy and Bobbi had mutated a few shades paler after hearing Wanda’s tale of horror, and an awkward quiet enveloped the room.

“Well, that conversation certainly put a damper on things!” Bobbi broke the spell with her declaration. “How about we make one of those sleepover pacts to never, ever talk about our tragic pasts again!” She raised her can of soda, and Daisy followed suit, and then Wanda. The three stared at Simmons until she gave in.

“Oh alright.” She said, and brought her coffee mug up to the cans.

“Here, here!” they chanted, clinking their drinks.

The night lingered on like that; Bobbi and Daisy avoided any silence possible by doing most of the talking. Wanda put in her two cents every once and while. Simmons for the most part stayed silent in observance, but she at some point she let herself take one of the sodas.

“So Simmons,” Daisy started at some point in the night after 1989 had started over, “are we, in the privacy of this girl party, allowed to ask how things are going with Fitz?”

Simmons shook her head with a click of her tongue. “Nice try, Johnson, but you did not get me drunk so I guess you will be missing out.”

“Sorry,” Wanda apologized. “I believe that’s my fault.” But Daisy and Bobbi waved her off.

“It’s cool, Maximoff. It’s not good to be have any kind of hungover before a mission anyway.” Bobbi explained. She was on her fifth can of soda.

“This I understand, but still. I don’t mind if you guys want to drink. The Avengers tried for a while to abstain, but eventually they just gave up.”

Daisy pointed her finger at Wanda making an excited face. “Ooooh! Let’s talk about that! I wanna talk about the Avengers!”

“Yessss!” Bobbi agreed. Even Simmons sat up to egg Wanda, who was shaking her head, on.

“C’mon!” Simmons begged, catching herself by surprise.

“You really want to hear about the Avenger’s possible drinking problem?” she asked with her perfect eyebrows raised.

“Don’t be a smartass, Wanda!” Daisy laughed. “Seriously though, what’s it like working with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?” she enunciated the last three words with the flick of her tongue.

Wanda laughed and gave a small shrug. “I have only fought with the whole group once, during the Fall of Sokovia. Because of certain… circumstances, now I work mostly with my new team and Captain America and Agent Romanoff, I’m sorry, uh Black Widow.”

“How is Natasha?” Bobbi asked. “I haven’t gotten to see her since she left S.H.I.E.L.D when we fell.”

“Natasha’s fine. She’s gone through some things, but I think she’s mostly back to normal, mentally.”

Simmons was tempted to ask if the things Black Widow had faced were Wanda’s fault, but she bit her tongue to fight the question. Bobbi continued to pester her for more information.

“We spend most of our time training with the Captain and Romanoff. They are excellent mentors, but I unfortunately I can’t tell you about my team. They are the most interesting and the ones I know best.” Daisy and Bobbie shrugged their forgiveness and Wanda continued. “As for our free time we spend it much like you do. They challenge each other to drinking contests. It’s always a tie. Capt taught me how to play some video games- “

“Wait!” Daisy stopped her. “Captain America, who was frozen in 1945 and dethawed in 2012, _taught you how to play video games?”_

“Yes, actually. He’s really good at them.” laughed Wanda with her hand over her mouth.

“Unbelievable!” Daisy flung her arms up in the air. Simmons rolled her eyes.“Is late enough in this party to ask about boys again?” Bobbi changed the subject. She was now popping open her sixth can of soda.

“Go easy, Drinky dwarf.” Simmons mocked. “I’m not driving you home!”

Bobbi replied with a proud smile. “Well, since Simmons isn’t drunk enough to talk about Fitz even though she used to talk about him _nonstop_ , how are things between you and Pikachu, Daisy?”

“With Lincoln? Pretty awesome, I’d say. Tons better than my last BF.” Daisy’s abashed smile turned into annoyance.

“What happened with your last… boyfriend?” asked Wanda.

Daisy flipped her hair. By this point in the evening, she was laying by a scrunched up Simmons on the couch, and propping her head up with her elbow. Bobbi was lounging in a beanbag and Wanda sat crisscross on the floor. “I’ll tell you this much because I know you can figure the rest out, I had to shoot him.”

Wanda let out a loud laugh.

“What about you and Hunter? Are you two going to get remarried anytime soon? I want godchildren.” Daisy turned to Bobbi.

“Pass.” Bobbi waved her hand. “What about you Wanda? Any one you like to get witchy with? You got all the Avengers to choose from”

“Did you just say “get witchy with”?” Simmons narrowed her eyes at Bobbi.

“Um, I thought we were talking about the Avengers…” Wanda replied, her gaze aimed at the floor.

Bobbi snapped her fingers and she shouted “She’s blushing, ooooh!”

“So there is someone!” Daisy fawned.

Wanda shifted. “It’s complicated.” she whispered. Her voice had turned sad, and as a result, Daisy and Bobbi dropped it after that. She stopped talking as much, and later Simmons noticed that Wanda got a far away look in her eyes when _Wildest Dreams_ came on for the 4 th time that evening. Around 10:30 when Bobbi downed her last and eighth can of soda of the evening, she stood up and adjourned the party.

“I’m calling it.” She said, stretching her arms. “I gotta get up at 5:30 to kick Mack’s ass in training. Oh and by the way, Daisy, I promised Simmons she could be the godmother.”

“Dammnit!”  Daisy cursed, but followed Bobbi out of the room. She called back a quick “Goodnight Simmons!” and a “See you tomorrow, Wanda.”

Simmons peeled herself out of the couch. Wanda was levitating the strewn about cans and empty bags of popcorn towards the nearest trashcan. “You don’t have to do that.” Simmons chastised her. Wanda set the cans down, her cheeks red.

“I guess I will see you tomorrow.” Wanda whispered. She walked passed her without making eye contact. “Have a goodnight.” and with that she was gone.

Simmons got her wish to just go to sleep, albeit it was three hours later than she wanted. She skipped the shower and went straight to the sleeping pill, setting her alarm for 5:45 am so she could sneak out to the window and see the sunrise- and Fitz. With her thoughts on her best friend, Simmons was lulled into a deep peaceful sleep.

_

 

Wanda’s sleep was not peaceful. She was tormented by a constant stream of blue nightmares- she was drowning at the bottom of the indigo ocean, she was stranded in an infinite blue desert… then she was choking in the mist left by a sapphire streak, she was trapped in the within the aegean walls of Hydra’s castle... In each dream she was screaming for her late mother and father, for Pietro, for The Vision, for _anyone_ to help her and right before she was lost forever, she broke her nightmares hold and would wake a tangled mess of the covers. Daisy had been kind enough to lend some sheets, blankets, and real pillows after seeing her room.

Wanda cycled like this; she would wrestle to keep her eyes closed, and guide her fighting mind to sleep, and then drift off only to tormented by the nightmares until she could force herself awake. She would brush away tears before trying again. She had no other choice. If she did not sleep that night, she would be too fatigued in her mission and prone to error. She could not- would not-  risk it for Coulson’s team.

Several times during the night The Vision tried to call to her. She knew he could sense her distress through their connection, but knowing he was worried for her only inflated her stress.

_Wanda, do you wish to talk about it?_

_I don’t want to worry you._

_I do not mind. Sam fell asleep during the movie a while ago._

_What did you watch?_

_A Knight’s Tale, one of Sam’s favorites. I quite enjoyed it, but you are changing the subject._

_I think I should just try to go back to sleep._

_As you wish, Wanda. Know I am here if you need me._

She would try again, wracked with guilt. At some point in the night, after a vicious nightmare about her days with Hydra, Wanda threw her legs over the side of the bed in defeat. She missed her bed, she missed her friends, and most of all, the rooftop of the Facility and all of its stars. In a daze, Wanda searched in the dark for her lanyard, and then the metal panel on the wall near the door. She dragged her bare feet across the cold concrete floor down the hall in a mindless state, and wandered the barren walls Playground for an infinite half hour. She came to the end of an empty hall where she was met by a large frosted window, kissed by the first light of a sunrise. It couldn’t have been more than six in the morning. She called back to The Vision as she took a place on the windowsill.

_Are you still there, my Vision?_

_

           

Fitz’ life had been one giant shit show since the Monolith. He finally gathered the courage to ask Jemma, who’d he been crazy about for two long years, to dinner, and then the Monolith proceeded to _literally_ suck the joy out of his life. For six months he searched in a dizzy craze for a way to bring her back, looking in every bloody nook and cranny of science and magic. He had scared his friends and colleagues and pushed them away, and when he brought Jemma back, she came back to him broken and in love with another man.

The universe hated Fitz. He made it too easy and had made it even easier by throwing himself to Jemma’s search for her Will Daniels, and attempt to bring him back from Maveth because it was the right thing and because Jemma would do the same. Then, out of the blue, he kissed her knowing it was stolen, and because it was his last chance. She’d kissed him back, but it felt like another sick joke the cosmos was playing on him. The punch line of this sick joke? Ending up Ward’s hands, _again,_ and an all access trip with the bastard to the hellhole that was Maveth, only to find out Will was long dead and a bloody zombie, he, of all people, had to kill! Then, he had to watch the man he’d always looked up to give into a suffocating revenge.

After finding out about Will, Jemma left without a word. Three weeks later she returned, and Fitz found himself forgiving her like he knew he always would. She was the only part of this job that made it worth doing. He found her each morning, watching the sunrise at the same window where she told him about Perth shire, and it he looked forward to it every night. It was his only chance to talk to his best friend when she wouldn’t talk to anybody else. Going back into the field for the mission in Greece was easy after that, even when Jemma protested one morning.

“You’re not ready!” she had cried. He couldn’t look into her eyes. “Not after…”

“I’ll be fine, Jemma. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

But Greece was a shitshow too.

So was he really phased when Wanda Maximoff, a proclaimed telepath and telekinetic and an Avenger-in-training, showed up on their doorstep, to “help”? Not really.

That was, until he tumbled out of bed the next morning to meet Jemma at the window to find another silhouette perched on the windowsill. She sat with her knees to her chest, tapping the glass with on of her excessive. The light of dawn illuminating her face and her lips were fluttering like she was muttering.

 _Probably an incantation,_ Fitz thought to himself.

“Not an incantation,” she whispered, catching him off guard. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stare, Agent Fitz.” Her accent was raspy and quiet. Fitz shivered.

“Sorry.” He fumbled. “I usually meet someone here… around this time.”

“Agent Simmons.” Her shadow nodded.

Fitz gulped. “Yeah, Jem- Agent Simmons.”

“Fitz?” a small voice came from the darkness behind him. Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Fitz turned from the window to see Jemma, trailing in her black pajamas and her pink bathrobe. She saw him and gave him a bright smile that disappeared when she noticed they weren’t alone. “Wanda?” she asked. The edge in her voice was audible.

“Hello, Agent Simmons.” She was still gazing out the window, sounding just as irritable as Jemma. Fitz looked back and forth between Jemma, her arms crossed, to Wanda, who was then hopping down from the windowsill.

“I’m sorry for interrupting… this.” She gestured to the two of them before splitting Jemma from Fitz as she walked away.

Shaking off the awkward encounter, Fitz took his place at the window. Jemma followed with her eyebrows furrowed and arms still crossed. he weighed the pros and cons of speaking. Fitz had no desire to upset Jemma now that she was talking to him on a daily basis.

“How was your girl party?” he asked her in an almost whisper.

She shook her head and sighed in reply. “It was fine, I suppose. I’d rather have been sleeping.”

“Can’t blame you. Didn’t sound like too much fun.”

“There wasn’t any beer.” She affirmed.

“Well, that makes sense. Bobbi and Daisy are going in the field today, so I can see why they didn’t want to be drinking last night.”

“That’s not why.” Jemma sighed again. “Wanda Maximoff doesn’t drink.”

“I thought she was an Avenger, not a nun.” When Jemma didn’t laugh, he tried again. “What do you think of her?”

“You really want to spend right now talking about her?”

Her words stung, but Fitz understood where she was coming from. Jemma had always struggled with powered people since Puerto Rico, so he let her bad mood slide.

Fitz then decided changed the subject to breakfast, because he could fill the silence talking about it. Soon she was smiling and telling him about this paper she read on how Honey Bees could be the replacement for antibiotics, and Wanda Maximoff was long forgotten.

_

The Bus 2.0, as the team called it, was a large makeshift cargo plane Fury had leased them for their mission in Greece, was not anything like the Quin-Jet.

Whereas Wanda was used to the hum of Quin-Jet’s engine, she was not accustomed to the constant thundering of The Bus. The effects of high altitude pressed on her skull with the weight of the world and her stomach became nauseated from the motion of the plane.

True to Director Coulson’s word, the next day they came together, all in uniform for one more debriefing, where Wanda reviewed the plan and her new strategy (she had ignored their pale faces and stubborn wavelengths) At three, the team boarded Fury’s massive plane.  Daisy sat playing cards with the other inhumans at wooden table by the window in the cargo hold. Wanda declined when Lincoln had invited her to play. She sat alone reviewing her eccentric plan over and over obsessively, until she unknowingly was reaching out again.

_There is no need to be nervous._

She smiled to herself. That morning when they had talked, she told him all about her nightmares and he sought to console her doubts.

_You will to fine today, Wanda. We have sparred enough for me to know I would not want to be on the other side of your hex._

He had been, multiple times, as he was her sparring partner. Only recently had she started to beat him in their dance, but his words made her lighter.

Now hearing his words, she was lead.

_I can’t mess up today. I can’t afford to repeat my mistakes…_

Wanda tipped her head back to force her tears down her throat. She thanked her lucky stars the agents were too preoccupied to witness her pitiful show. Now was not the time to have an anxiety attack reliving her Pietro’s death.

_We… I… have faith that you will not._

She took a deep breath. Agent May’s voice came from the cockpit. “We’re coming up on the island. We’ll be landing in about 15 minutes.”

 _Thank you, my Vision. Tell the others I miss-_ suddenly a blast of psychic energy hit Wanda. She twisted in her neck in agony as the pain burst in her brain like explosions that rendered her vision blurry. Ares. His power flooded her system like venom, washing over her every neuron in bright loud pops. She fought the screamed that formed in her closed mouth, clutching the armrest with white knuckles. Daisy was at her side then. The only other time she had felt such pain was when she first read him-

_Wanda!_

“Wanda!” Daisy cried. Wanda felt her shaking fingers on her arm rest. “What’s happening?”

She fought for her mouth to form the words. “I can feel him! I can sense Ares! Take a different route!” she shouted. _Fight through it, Maximoff_ , she told herself, _you have faced worse than this!_

“What?” Hunter yelled back from the cockpit.

“Go another way! He can sense us coming!” Wanda screamed. Hexing her seatbelt off, she stood up and put her arms in stance. “Time to fight.” She announced with her teeth grit.

Shaking through the pain, she whispered through their connection, _I’m okay. I have to get to work now, my Vision._

_Wanda-_

Her red bled through the air, touching every agent’s mind. Though their wavelengths betrayed that they were hesitant, especially Agents Fitz and Simmons, and their eyes flashed crimson, they understood what she was doing. Much like she had done in the Fall of Sokovia when she had used her hexes to persuade the minds of the other Sokovians to evacuate, this time she reversed the effect to create a barrier from any foreign wavelengths. She could feel all their thoughts as she did so…

_I’m not feeling it… is she doing it?_

_Will this work?_

_There’s no way this will work…_

_I don’t think we’re ready for this._

“Landing in new location in five!” Agent May called back. Coulson stepped under the railing of cockpit and into the foyer.

“You know the plan.” He told them. “Simmons, Hunter, you’ll sit up with me in the pit. Everybody else… go kick some ass.”

-

“I’m having some serious déjà vu.” Fitz whispered behind Wanda. The two were walking down a dimly lit stone hall that echoed the sound of Wanda’s heels along with Fitz’ loud nervous breathing. In his mind, Wanda could witness the memory of Agent Fitz’ first time here, following the same hall, holding a “night-night” gun close to his person, just like he did now.

Agent Simmons had been mess of emotions when they landed three kilometers away from Ares’ hideout. Her wave lengths were composed of familiar anger and frustration, but also tinged with worry and regret. She held him for several pained minutes before letting him go with a kiss on his cheek. “Come back to me.” She whispered for only his ears. As the debarked, she stared at Wanda with cold brown eyes. It would be Wanda’s fault if he did not.

Wanda was nervous, but not worried. Now back in her uniform, she still possessed the abilities of Wanda Maximoff, but the confidence of Scarlet Witch. Crimson electricity soared through her veins and fought to break free of her bracers. She could feel the painful pulses coming of Ares radiating from the center of his kingdom; not yet, she told herself. If they were lucky, no one would face Ares or his magic.

Agent May, Daisy, and Lincoln were outside the compound creating a distraction while on the other end, Director Coulson was guiding Agents Morse, Mack, and Lincoln over their com’s to location of the politicians. She could sense their actions, but not their thoughts or emotions, through the mental shield she had created. The shield had been successful so far. When the men she and Agent Fitz encountered on their way gave off surprise, Wanda knew it was working.

“Take a deep breath, Agent Fitz.” Wanda told him. “You’ve only had to shoot that thing twice.”

“Only ‘cause you did all the work.” There was an unspoken “showoff” to his words. Wanda ignored itThey reached a steel door at the end of the hallway with a tumbler lock. With the quick flick of her wrist, she hexed the two men standing guard. “This is it, no?” she asked Agent Fitz.

“Yeah.” he replied. Wanda sent a red hexed through the lock of the door, and it whipped open with a loud pop. Agent Fitz turned rapidly when they heard the sound of boots echoing down the hall.

“Go!” Wanda ordered. “I will take them.”

Once Agent Fitz was through the steel door and uncrating a new device he’d created to fry the weapons’ circuits, Wanda took a running start down the hall, skidding to a stop when she met a group of armed men, much, much bigger than she.

 _Hello boys._ Several of them dropped their guns and clutched their heads as she willed Ares’ influence from them.

When she had their full attention, her dance began. She sent a carmine hex through the first line men with the twirl of her arms, and the men crumbled to their knees cursing – and then muttering- in inaudible Greek. Others began to retreat, but Wanda stomped her heel and sent bolt of red that caught them in their tracks. They fell on top of each other in an angry pile as they cried out.

Wanda put her arms down. More were coming.

“You need a direct line.” The Captain had always told them in training. “Find one- then punch.”

Wanda looked straight at the new men and their guns who were advancing upon her fast. She spun on her heel like a ballerina and levitated herself into the air, hexing all of their weapons to the floor in one swift scarlet movement. Now for the men. She released a wave of red from her fingertips, sending the men several meters back.

“Agent Fitz! Report!”

“Uhh… there’s more crates than last time!” he yelled back.

“How many?” she demanded. Wanda flexed her hands and sent the next line of men to the ground. The presence of their replacements were getting stronger.

“About two dozen! I’m going as fast I can, I’d like to add!”

Wanda cursed in Sokovian. These men were like Ultron’s army. They just kept coming.

Hex, after hex, they were pushing her back centimeter by centimeter. She deflected every shot from their enhanced weapons, firing back with her own just as fast, until only a few men remained.

“Where are your friends?” she yelled, blasting them back into separate walls. Where were their wavelengths? She turned back to the door. “Agent Fitz! They’re down- but they could keep coming!”

But he was already at frame, his face pale, shouting her name. “Wanda!”

Wanda turned, but she was not her brother. One of the men she had blasted into the wall, was leaning against the stone, his gun pointed at her. She knew in that moment that Agent Simmons was going to rip her throat out.

Wanda tried to fire a defensive hex with a flick of her fingers, but her scarlet wasn’t fast enough. She felt Fitz fall to ground behind her with a silent scream and…

For the second time in her life as hero, it was her fault somebody was shot.

-

Simmons heard Fitz shout Wanda’s name followed the sound of his muffled scream over her com. She couldn’t help but assume the worse.“Fitz!” she shouted. Hunter and Coulson were giving her worried looks, but all she could see in her mind were images of him, bleeding out on the floor, dying and fading away. The urge to go to him strengthened. “Fitz! What’s going on!”

“Got… hit…” was his muffled reply.

Avenger or not, Simmons was going to kill the pretentious Scarlet Witch.

“I’m coming, Fitz! Hold on!” She was on her feet in seconds, hitting the button to open the doors of The Bus, when she was stopped by the bar of Hunter’s crutch.

“Wait love, where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

Coulson came up behind him. “What’s going on, Simmons?”

She pushed away the bar forcefully. “Fitz has been shot, you bloody morons!” Coulson and Hunter went pale.

“Wanda!” Coulson then called over the com. “What’s your status!” He was wasting her time!

“I couldn’t… Fitz has… I tried…”

“You have to let me in there!” Simmons cried. “I’m the only one who can help him!”

Hunter and Coulson exchanged a look. “You were the one who said you would not be going back in the field.” Hunter told her.

“We’ll get Agent May.” decided Coulson.

“We don’t have enough time-  we’re closest to Fitz anyway- no you’re letting me in there or Fitz will die!”

“How bad is it, Wanda?” Coulson asked over com.

There was silence. “Bad. I cannot heal the wound.”

Simmons sent them a look of steel and hit the button. Wanda did not possess that power, but she did. “I’m going in, give me your gun Hunter.”

“I’ll go with you- “Coulson started but Simmons cut him off.

“No. You need to stay here in case something happens with May or Bobbi. Gun _now_ , Hunter.”

Coulson gave a silent nod, and that was the end of it. Next thing Simmons knew she was grabbing her first aid bag and following Wanda and Fitz’s path; she marched down the castle hall with her gun pointed straight ahead.

“I’m coming Fitz.” She whispered, careful to step over the piles of Wanda’s victims. “Please hold on.”

_

Once she reached the door at the end of the hall, she kicked it open to find Wanda cradling Fitz’ head, and her hand glowing an angry red over a gash in Fitz’ torso. The tears on her face reflected red. “I’m so sorry.” She pleaded. Anger flared in Simmons’ stomach like a hurricane.

“Get away from him!” Simmons screamed, aiming the gun at Wanda. She would not lose Fitz, not like she lost Will.

Wanda peeled herself away from Fitz, extinguishing her powers but never taking her scarlet gaze from his body. Simmons was on her knees the next second, blinking away tears. She ripped open his shirt to reveal a gash that started under Fitz’ left rib and traveled without mercy across his stomach. The edges of the wound were burnt, and inside the gash blood poured onto Simmons’ hands.

“You idiot!” She placed her other bare hand on the wound with as much pressure as her upper arms would grant her. “I told you to come back to me!” Fitz coughed up some blood in response and Simmons gasped when she saw his eyes roll back into his head. Wanda was levitating Simmons’ bag toward her.

“Stop it!” she yelled. “You’ve done enough!” She began to was pull out supplies with the detail of a madman. “This is going to hurt.” Simmons warned Fitz. Then his eyes followed her voice, and he was looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Simmons reached for a vial of salve in her bag, uncapped it, and took a handful of it to the wound. While Fitz screamed, she used force him over to begin wrapping his torso. She was doing a sloppy crazed job of it to, chanting “I won’t lose you too, I won’t lose you too,” when she saw Wanda walk to the front of the cellar out of her periphery. “What bloody now?”

 Wanda clenched her fists. “Ares.”

“No…”

“Yes, my dear.” Stepping through the door frame was a horrendous half man, half giant whose bulbous head touched the ceiling. Half of his face had been burned off, and the scarring was angry, striated, and peeling. His Greek accent sounded like claws grating a chalkboard. His thick leather coat was adorned in badges and tears. Ares’s shadow swallowed Wanda’s. Behind him, Simmons could see a chorus of men holding guns.

Ares smiled with a set of yellow teeth at the Scarlet Witch. “You must be the sorceress who has been blocking my power.”

She lifted her neck higher. “You must be the bastard who’s at fault for all of this.”

“Sokovian, huh? You must not be with the government then… They are getting these weapons after all. A pity for those guerilla forces- “ A loud crash reverberated through the cellar and hallway. Wanda had flicked her wrist and shot Ares straight into his men. “Talk about my country again, and you will _not_ recover from what I will do to you, Ares.”

 _Keep going, Simmons, keep going!_ Her hands went through each motion of bandaging. To her relief, Fitz was remaining conscious.

“Simmons…” he mumbled through blood. “What’s happening?”

“Shoot her!” Ares ordered, and suddenly there was a shield of crimson around Wanda, Fitz, and Simmons. A quick silence in gunfire, and Wanda was at it again, firing blasts of raging red every second. Simmons watched the armored men crumbling like dominos.

Wanda flexed her wrist once more and Simmons heard Ares scream. “You bitch!” he shouted. “You dare call yourself an Avenger?”

She yelled back something incoherent and waved her fingers once more. Man after man dropped their weapons and crashed to the ground with moans and red irises.

“I’m almost done, Fitz.” Simmons whispered, cupping his handsome face. “You’re going to be alright.”

“Jemma.” He breathed.

“Simmons! Report!” Agent May’s voice filtered through her com. “Coulson says Fitz is down!”

Streaks of red were floating through the air as Wanda continued to fight. Ares taunted her with talk of the Avengers and their impending disappointment. “I got to Fitz in time, he’ll be alright, Wanda is fighting Ares! She needs back up!”

“No!” The Avenger protested from behind a crimson shield she held up. Ares gave more commands in Greek and the men kept firing. “Tell them to stay back! I cannot keep the mental shield up for much longer!”

Simmons could see she was draining. Every twist of her arms looked more and more painful, even if her eyes grew redder still. Wanda could not last much longer.

“You have such a beautiful mind, Miss Maximoff. It’s a shame you’d just hand it over to me. Your brother would be so disappointed! You actually believed they could ever be proud of _you_? Can you imagine the faces of your comrades when your return a failure! At this rate you won’t return at all, little witch!” Ares laughed from behind his men. There was another stroke of red and another falling line of men.

“Coward!” Wanda screamed. “Come out from behind your men! Face me, you goddamn coward!””

“Think of your android, Miss Maximoff! He’s expected this for such a long time!” Ares’ laughter echoed through Simmons’ ears. He was working his way through his crowd, upon Wanda in seconds. She socked him the mouth, but he only spit and grabbed her wrist. “Was your beloved Pietro’s death for all this- “ Wanda kicked him in the chest, back away from her.

Then in a quiet whisper, her hair falling over her face, she growled “Mention my brother once more, and I will rip apart your _every_ molecule…” The firing had started in a blur once more

Simmons clutched Fitz’ warm hand tighter and he nodded. She had to reason with Wanda. “Please, Wanda! You won’t last much longer!”

All Simmons heard within the midst of red was “I’m an Avenger! While I live and until I die- it- is- my- job!” She closed in her elbows and a bright burst of scarlet energy burst from her body, knocking back all the men that remained. With a pained cry, Wanda landed on her knees, panting, black stained tears running down her face. She shook from exhaustion.

Ares’ men lay stranded about on the stone floor, their eyes red, rolling around with ecliptic like patterns. Ares had fallen with them, but Simmons could not see him seizing. Then, as Wanda shook and sobbed, Ares stood again, this time carrying one of his men’s weapons- with his finger on the trigger.

Simmons’ lips formed Wanda’s name, but she was already standing, cursing Ares in a foreign language.

She watched the scene unfold before her eyes in alizarin-

Ares pulling the trigger… Wanda struggling to put her arms up… the three blasts of light headed straight for Simmons and Fitz… and a bright blast of green…she was now skidding in front of Simmons and Fitz…

Finally, an explosion of scarlet as Wanda took the blasts to the head and crumbled to the ground, eclipsing everything in red.

 

_

The second Simmons had called for backup, Bobbi, Joey, and Mack, set off in their direction at full speed.

With Coulson’s directions, they had found the location of where Ares’ had the politicians with ease and only had to bang up a few bad guys. Mack had taken them back to the Bus, hands still cuffed, and the three headed to meet back up with Daisy, Lincoln, and May, who had kept Ares and his men busy. But when they rendezvous’d, Ares was nowhere to be found.

Daisy was helping Lincoln up. “He went that way. May followed.”

Then Simmons had called for backup, and they knew where Ares had was headed.

When they found Fitzsimmons after picking through a pile of comatose men, including Ares, Simmons was bent over a convulsing Wanda Maximoff, pinning her hands back. Fitz lay moaning in the corner.

“Ares shot her with some sort of enhanced Taser!” Simmons was screaming as the six ran into the room “She’s having a seizure!” Wanda’s legs and head were thrashing out in every direction. Her whole body was jerking in a sporadic motion and she was foaming at the mouth. Simmons was crying, “Mack, I need you to take her back to the bus! I need my medical supplies! Bobbi, Daisy, grab Fitz!”

They were off and Wanda lay thrashing out in Mack’s arms as they boarded waiting bay of The Bus and came in like a storm into the plane’s medical area.

“What the bloody hell is happening?” Hunter yelled above the chaos, limping close behind a frantic Coulson.

“She’s seizing.” Bobbi yelled back as Simmons ordered Wanda’s body on one bed and Fitz on the other.

“Do we strap her down?” Lincoln demanded. Wanda was writhing every direction in the bed, making a gasping sound as she threw her head back and her chest convulsed outward. Daisy ran to her side to grab her hand.

“No!” screamed Simmons. She was tearing apart her medical cabinets looking for her IV. “She’ll just hurt herself more! I need you to turn her on her side and keep her head up, she’s choking!”

Lincoln and Mack attempted to do as they were told, but they took their hands off her body when pulses of concentrated red started shooting from Wanda’s hands. Wanda was now crying out in between painful gasps of breath, in harsh and catatonic language. As her voice grew louder, her hands flexed and bigger blasts of red would burst from her finger tips.

“What’s happening now, Simmons?” Mack yelled pushing Lincoln and Daisy back from the stretcher.

“Can you even make it stop? Bobbi shouted from Fitz’s side.

“I’m not sure. I have no idea what the voltage of shot was but it was strong enough to carve a hole in Fitz!” Simmons found the IV needle finally in a locked drawer that took her an eternity to break open.

Attaching it to a bag, she headed straight for Wanda’s jerking arms. “Take her jacket off!”

“We’re all getting arrows through are hands now!” moaned Hunter from somewhere.

“If the new Avengers don’t eat us alive first.” Coulson pointed out.

With Mack’s strong arms and Daisy’s quick maneuvering, they ripped off her red coat and Simmons jammed the needle into Wanda’s arm. In seconds, the sporadic red energy blasts ceased and Wanda’s convulsions calmed.

Simmons wiped the sweat off her forehead with a shaky hand. “There, that should help.”

“Wooh.” Daisy sighed. “What did you give her- “

“Get down everyone!” Mack was shouting but Simmons didn’t hear him. She didn’t hear anything after seeing Wanda’s hands light up again and flexed, and suddenly Simmons was crumbling, headed straight for the cold ground.

_

 

_Someone is calling Jemma’s name… but it isn’t her name… it’s a voice she’s never heard before. Smoke burns her nose and mouth, as rose tinted smolders of a burning building surround her._

_The voice call her name is holding her from behind… promising… they are crying… and she is crying too as the smoke makes it too hard for eyes to stay open… to turn to look at the voice … but the red walls are morphing before her, the voice is fading, their embrace gone and suddenly… she is being held down to a bed her hands and feet and neck restrained in the leather collars… the fluorescent lights, the men around her are illuminated in scarlet… and there’s a voice, a different voice this time coming from a man with one eye glass who speaks when they others say…_

_“She’s just as the others, she is too weak to survive the tests.”_

_“No.” … the man with the eye glass “she is our miracle…  they are our miracles”_

_And a pain is shot through her arms…. Needles… needles of different lengths and shapes and bursts of pain… hour upon hour needles in different parts of Jemma’s body… she’s trying to fight through the pain… but she hears the screams of others echo only to become silent… the dead are wheeled by her… and needle after needle she thinks_

_“I can’t do this… I am next…”_

_But there is a voice in her head… the voice from before_

_“We can do this! You can do this…” but then the voice is screaming out in his own pain… as they give him needle after needle, she can’t see him, why…. Why, she begs, why can’t see she him?... Then the men are done with the needles… and the cutting begins… they break Jemma’s restraints to hold her down with the force of their dirty hands when she fights back… they take rusted knives and cut her palms and wrists and arms open… she feels the warmth of her own blood… his screaming… they are doing it him too…_

_“Stop hurting him!” Jemma screams…she begs for his release in a language she does not speak…  and they do not listen but instead bring her to the yellow light… the tip of the golden rod is held to Jemma’s forehead… she’s on her knees this time… the pain, the pain, the pain in her head, in her every never ending…. All she sees is yellow… all she feels is the yellow electricity… burning her… burning her skin…burning every cell, every vein, every inch of her body forever and ever… and then like her screams it’s over…_

_They whisper to one another… “She’s survived! He survived! How? When the rest are dead?”_

_And the eye glass man… his words are thick and foreign… “This is the age of miracles… and nothing is more terrifying than a miracle.”_

_But whatever they did to her… whatever miracle they made her…  It’s not working and they are furious… locking Jemma away for days on end… Away from him, because it worked for him… she can hear him from behind castle walls like a king trapped in his own kingdom… and then the men pull her out of her cell kicking and screaming and biting and ripping her dirty white gown… and there he is_

_But he’s on his knees, his dirty grey hair in hanging over his familiar face… The first time she’s seen him in months… And the man with the eye glass has a gun to his head._

_She wants to run to him… to save him, but they throw her to the ground and scream_

_“Do it! We know you can!”_

_Jemma cries… “I can’t I can’t, please let him go.” the gun clicks… he is fighting… He is bleeding blue…_

_“I can’t, I can’t!”_

_“Let her go!”_

_“Let him go!”_

_The gun fires and Jemma’s screams are burning her lungs…her fingers are clenched and when she cries out... suddenly everything is relentless in red… everyone is lit up in scarlet starlight… men’s minds are crumbling- And Jemma can feel everything… Their emotions, their thoughts… Their fears…_

_And she can feel him… he is alive… the man with the eye glass did not fire, but she… she has broken free of chrysalises… They let her run to him and she’s repeating his name over and over -how does Jemma know his name?… holding him, it will be okay… They can help their country now… they can protect each other now…_

_The images before Jemma are coming faster and are tainted in deeper crimson- her cell, her screen- she burns her skin when the red starts so they bind her wrists- lift one object… Lift ten… look what Jemma can do- read the minds of feeble men- then the minds of strong men-  and break them …and when she is true enough they strip her of her gown- her cell- she is free…_

_And she and him are running- well he is running- and she can see the silhouette of a very guilty man…_

_The red images possess her now at the speed of light- a metal man who calls himself God- every forsaken hero she touches falls- the electricity, God the electricity- Jemma is touching a cold body- and the pain is sharper than the needles and hotter than her blood burning every neuron and all she can see is fire and ash and death_

_“Don’t do this!” the god calls… “what choice do we have?” but this time, she does have a choice- someone asking her “can you stop this thing” and the weight of the world is on her- another god- another god- one with golden eyes- Jemma can read him- but he is not…_

_her home is falling- it’s her fault… But if she walks out that door..._

_“It’s my job” and for once in her life she is doing something right-_ _“I’m twelve minutes older than you…” the voice says… And then it is gone and Jemma knows as the bullet rips through her chest and brain- his voice is gone forever- and she is falling to her knees and everything she felt- she can feel no longer burning in her...once she has killed god, she is ready for death but then…_

_“Jemma! Jemma!” the gold calls to her “Jemma! Jemma-”..._

 

“Jemma!”

 

_-_

_Wanda…_

_Wanda…_ There’s a voice in her head. Echoing.

_Wanda… can you hear me?_

_Wanda!_

 

“Vision… Where am I?” Wanda was blinking in fluorescent light. She could not feel her any of her limbs, only a pleasant buzzing in her skull, lulling her back into comatose.

_Wake up! Please speak to me!_

Gasping, she tried to burst upright, but screamed out when every muscle in her body protested. Her muscles felt like they were on fire, like they were burning all over again. A sharp pain in her right arm forced her to turn. She was no longer wearing her red coat and a paleness of her arms revealed the contrast of an IV in her bicep.

_There is not a needle in my arm…_

 But there was. The red images of her experimentation flashed before her eyes- the thousands of needles they stuck in her skin- and Wanda had to hold her breath so she would not vomit. She ripped the IV out of her arm with a shaking hand. Only then did her breathing steadied.

_Wanda, what is going on? Can you tell me where you are?_

_Vision? I…_

_Our connection was broken several hours ago. I’ve been attempting to reach you since!_

_I’m sorry… I can’t remember..._

Looking around, she realized she must be in some sort of hospital. The fluorescent light reflected off the white the walls, interrupted by a large glass window and several sets of silver cabinets and drawers. But it was the smell that gave it away. The rawness of alcohol and sterilized equipment made Wanda dizzy.

After the Fall of Sokovia, she spent three days in a hospital recovering from injuries. With the smell, came the rawness of her brother’s death. “Pietro…” she mumbled. Her body demanded she lie back down, but she forced her legs over the bed. The Vision was pulling at their connection like a worried child pulls at its mother. It occurred to Wanda that _he_ was the source of the pleasant lullaby of buzzing in her brain.  The Vision...

“Your brother would be so disappointed! Think of your android, Miss Maximoff! He’s expected this for such a long time! You actually believed they could ever be proud, of _you_?”

In a violent rush it came back to her- coming to work with S.H.I.E.L.D, landing in Greece, fighting the men, Agent Fitz shot, Agent Simmons coming to his rescue, Ares…

Her hands were shaking now as they gripped the silver rim of the bed. It was truly a repeat of the Fall of Sokovia. “I have failed again.” she whispered to herself.  The tears trickled down her face as she shook.

Ares had been right.

“Wanda?” a quiet voice called. “Why on Earth are you sitting up? You need to lie back down.”

Her head whipped up at the sound of the familiar British voice. Agent Simmons sat in the corner of the white room with her knees huddled to her.

Agent Simmons… _Agent Fitz!_

“Where is Agent Fitz?” she choked out. Her throat scratched like it was filled with sand and her voice sounded foreign- and weak- to her ears.

Agent Simmons was at her side then, forcing her backwards. “Fitz is fine.” she spoke calmly, as if she were a mother. “He’s not exactly walking, but he’s awake. I had Bobbi wheel him out to a bunk a few hours ago.”

Agent Fitz had been shot, but he was okay. There was one difference from Sokovia. She swallowed despite the pain in her throat. “How bad were his injuries?”

“Um, I still don’t understand what he was shot with, but it opened the skin. The electricity gave him some third degree burns. There was no bullet or evidence of one, but he lost a lot of blood. We were lucky. He and Hunter have the same blood type; Hunter was able to donate some.”

“And the others?” asked Wanda. “How… How are they?”

Agent Simmons was pulling out something from one of the myriads of ivory cabinets- a small navy medical kit. Taking out a blood pressure cuff, she said, “They are fine. May and Mack went back to the hideout to take Ares to Greek authorities. May and Mack stayed with him to help build him a containment cell” She then took Wanda's right arm, the one where the needle had been placed, and Wanda flinched. “I see you took your IV out.”

Agents Simmons shook her head, but her wavelengths were ones of concern.

“Yes… You said they went back to get Ares, but how? And why?” Wanda demanded. If she had failed, how had they defeated Ares? Agent Simmons had her arm again and was attempting to put the cuff around.

“Relax, I just have to check your blood pressure.” She was silent as she did so, before adding “When they met up with us in the weapons area, they found that your last blast had rendered Ares and his remaining men unconscious. I believe Mack and May hit him in the head again for good measure and then cuffed him to a water pipe so they could go back for him. We needed to get you out of there as soon as possible.”

Wanda felt the familiar pressure from the cuff as Agent Simmons checked her watch. “What happened to me?”

Agent Simmons remained silent. She would not make eye contact either, choosing rather to remove the cuff from Wanda's arm with her lips pursed. When Wanda asked again, Agent Simmons only sighed.

 _Fine_ , she told herself, _then if I have to reach in and dig it out of you-_

Her neck snapped as she looked into Simmons mind.

It comes of blasts in red: _the image of her from Simmons’ eyes as Wanda falls to the ground, the sound of her knees as she hits the stone, throws her head forward in some demonic prayer, slipping on her bracers while her body wrenches from side to side- her body is on her side now, shaking and writhing and choking- Agent Simmons is crying out- leaving her beloved Fitz to hold Wanda’s arms down as they twist back and forth...and then Daisy and Lincoln and May and are there and the one they call Mack is lifting her in his arms and then they are running down the stone hall as Wanda’s body continues to shake and twist- they are boarding the bus and Agent Simmons is demanding, screaming out orders and joins them in the hospital… they hold her down, twist her around and Wanda’s choking becomes her native language…_

 _“Stop! Stop! Stop!” and that’s when she begins to send unconscious hexes from her fingertips before Agent Simmons is jamming a godforsaken needle in her arm and for a second everything is still and the shaking is gone… and Mack is shouting -the red vision goes black._                                            _Then Agent Fitz is crying out Jemma’s name-_

 Wanda whipped her head in a gasp and cursed in Sokovian. “Why did you black out?” She already knows the answer.

“You hit me with a blast of energy…” Agent Simmons trailed off.

“What did you see?” Wanda swallowed. It was the last thing she had wanted: to hex someone she was not in combat with.

There was another painful silence where Agent Simmons’ waves turned from concern to fear. “I believe,” she tried. “I believe that saw a rendition of your memories.”

“ _My_ memories?”

Agent Simmons nodded. “Unless you didn’t live through torture in a dirty castle and your brother is still alive, then no, I did not see your memories.

One look into her mind confirmed this, and Wanda cursed herself again. “I am _so_ sorry, Agent Simmons. That- that usually does not happen, usually people see _their_ fears. I don't understand-” Wanda tried to force herself to think back to her seizure, but there was a wall in her memories. “Though there might have been a chance I was-”

“Reliving your memories while your seizing.” Agent Simmons completed. She was taking the cuff off and then taking out a flashlight.

“So that’s what it feels like to have your sentenced finished.”

The doctor smirked, but she put a comforting hand on Wanda’s shoulder as she checked her pupils with the light. “It makes sense, actually.” admitted Wanda. “I don’t know if this was in your vision, but when I- we- were being experimented on, I used to have seizures all the time.”

“No, those uh… weren’t part of what I saw.” her voice was a little whisper.

“Struker’s doctors theorized that is was caused by one part of brain creating more energy and overloading the other side. I had them all the time, most of the time after I practiced levitating. I had them so often, Struker’s doctors gave up trying to do something about and just left me in my cell, and sometimes-” she had to pause to swallow her tears. Agent Simmons waited patiently. “the seizures would be so bad I would throw up on myself. It made Pietro _so_ upset. He couldn’t see me, almost ever, until I learned how to connect ss telepathically, and because he was in the next cell over he had- he had to listen to me when I seized... through the wall. I think it's why he was so angry when Clint electrocuted me.”

Agents Simmons was pale for a few quiet minutes.  She had put the flashlight way, but kept a white hand on the kit. The hum of the plane made Wanda to want to speak, to say anything, but Agent Simmons spoke first. “How long were your seizures? On average?”

“About three minutes, I think. How- how long was this one?”

Again the hum. “Twenty. At least that’s what they told me when I woke up. I should have been counting but-”

“Twenty?!” Wanda was appalled, and _so_ embarrassed, bordering on mortified, but also grateful she had not thrown up.

“I believe that whatever Ares shot you with unbalanced the energy, as was the cause of your first seizures. But after what it did to Fitz, I’m surprised that much electricity didn’t kill you or impair you in any way.”

“I guess my body was used to the energy surges.” she whispered. “One more thing to thank Struker for.”

Agent Simmons checked her reflexes, and when satisfied she said “I think you should get some rest. Even with the twelve hours you’ve been out, I think you could stand for a few more.”

Wanda gripped the metal of bed until her knuckles went white. “I’ve been out, for _twelve_ hours?”  She put her head in her hands. Agent Simmons nodded with a sympathetic frown. “Oh, god…” Twelve hours which meant- Images of The Vision, pacing and levitating in worry and frustration. What had she done?

He would have notified the Avengers, and they- she could only imagine their disappointed faces when they learned of her failure. Oh God, how Ares was right.

_My Vision, I am so sorry, I-_

_Wanda? You are there! Please tell me you can hear me!_

_I can hear you...I am so sorry._

_What happened Wanda? One minute you were connected the next you were absent. There was not a single thing from you!  I have been nothing but worried for hours._

_Ares. He… electrocuted me. Agent Simmons said I had a seizure… and that I have been asleep for twelve hours._

_A seizure? Wanda, are you okay!?_

_I… I think so. I’m very dizzy, but the effects of the seizure have worn off and I didn’t vomit, thank God. I can’t remember Ares hitting me though or ever cutting off our connection._

_Whatever the bastard did, it must’ve cut off your powers, and therefore the connection._

Wanda was shocked at him; rarely ever did The Vision curse. When he did, it was always to mock Sam or Rhodey, or even her frequent curses in Sokovian. He was, understandably, upset. She put her face in her hands.

_I’m sorry I failed and that I’ve upset you, this is all my fault, again-_

_Wanda!_ He interrupted. _I am not angry. I was merely scared that I had lost you._

Her heart crumbled to pieces at his words. _No, my Vision. I’m still here-_

“Wanda?” Agent Simmons was back in her corner. “You’re crying.”

“I am?” She placed her cold fingers on her face and was met by warm tears. “Oh, I am.”

_I promise I am coming home…_

Agent Simmons coughed, interrupting Wanda from continuing to speak with The Vision. “I never thanked you.”

“Huh?”

“I never thanked you.” She repeated. “For saving my life, and for saving Fitz’s.”

“But I’m the reason he was wounded in the first place.” Wanda reminded her.

“I shouldn’t have been angry about that. _I’ve_ been the reason Fitz was hurt on multiple occasions, so I have no room to talk. I suppose that’s the reason I didn’t want him to go back in the field. I was so afraid he would get hurt, that I would lose him.”

Wanda nodded. “I understand. Reading Fitz, it was obvious that he loves you, cares for you a lot.”

“I love him too, I think but.” She pursed her lips again, and closed her eyes.

“But what?”

“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. Blabbing my problems to a complete stranger.”

Wanda bit back a smile. Agent’s Simmons’ words brought her back to the one-month anniversary of Pietro’s death. She'd been living at the Facility for some time now while the other Avengers were cleaning Ultron’s mess- her mess- and Dr. Cho had just put her on antidepressants. Making a poor job of adjusting to her new life, Wanda shut herself off from the others while she attempted to grieve alone.

But one night, the anniversary, Wanda wandered to the rooftop to have a private soliloquy.  She never noticed The Vision up there as well. The two were not close, but since the Fall of Sokovia, she had watched him from afar with broken hope.

Then he sat next to her, this curious mock of man, and all he said was “Hello, Miss Maximoff.”

By the time the sun was setting was over, she found herself opening up to him, telling him everything. He only listened, his wavelengths humanly empathetic, until Wanda said to him “God, I’m a mess. You barely even know me, yet here I am- crying like an idiot in front of you.”

“I do not mind. Rather, I believe it is healthy.”

Now as Agent Simmons mentally hit her head on a wall, Wanda found herself repeating his kind words.

“I don’t mind. It might be good to talk to someone. Reading you, I sense frustration.” she told her.

Agent Simmons hesitated. Wanda waited in the hum of plane, sending The Vision calming waves through their connection to let him know she was still there.

“I was- I still might be in love with someone else. Someone Fitz technically killed.” Agent Simmons said after a few minutes. Her wavelengths were shaking. “See, about nine months ago, I was sucked into this portal. It took me… To another planet.”

“Another planet?”

Agent Simmons nodded, “Maveth.”

“The Hebrew word for death.” Wanda affirmed. When Agent Simmons sent her a puzzled look, she added “You people keep forgetting that I grew up in Eastern Europe.”

The doctor continued, waving her hands as she spoke. “I was stranded by myself for a quite a while. Looking back, I still don't know how I survived those weeks alone. Just kept talking to Fitz’ picture. Then… then I met someone, well, I was more captured by him. His name was Will and he’d been stranded there by NASA for fourteen years.”

She explained that Will Daniels had been the only surviving member of a party of three and the others had been driven mad on the planet.

“We just called it “it”.” Agent Simmons sighed. Wanda could feel her fear radiating off her. “I never saw it. Will kept me away from going anywhere that it could touch me. Week after week we searched for a way home. I just had this hope Fitz was looking for me too. And one day, we found another place for the portal to open and we were going to send Fitz some instructions, but… But we missed our opportunity. I guess something in me just broke that day… I gave up on Fitz, on home, and I kissed Will, because I knew I wasn’t going home… I just thought we were _never_ going home.

 I wrong. You see I had given up on Fitz, but he had not given up on me. Few months later, he found a way to open the portal. I made it through but…”

“But Will didn’t.” Wanda finished. Reading Agent Simmons’ memories she could see the face of Will, the dry blue barren planet that had been haunting Wanda’s nightmares, and the arms of Agent Fitz has he held Agent Simmons with the intention to never let go.

“I was a wreck when I returned. PTSD, trust issues, couldn’t even face my lab, and on top of it all Fitz was there every step if the way. He let me take my time trying to adjust, and here I was, in love with another man, who died after _I_ _left him there._ ” her voice was rising in volume with every word she choked out. “Fitz jumped through a damn wormhole in the universe to save me and how do I repay him? By loving a dead man! And how do I repay Will? By loving his killer!”

She stood up in a violent rush with her hands pressed on her eyelids. Wanda kept her lips together. She sensed Agent Simmons was not finished.

Then she whirled on her heel to face Wanda. Her face was an angry red as she shouted, “And now here I am, telling all of this to you! I’m sure this is nothing to you with your scary torture and work with Ultron!”

Oh, that was it, she was done with this tantrum. Wanda stood now. “This is nothing?” she retorted, her nostrils flaring. “You do not think I understand what you feel? This endless cycle of guilt you are trapped in? You do not think that I don’t not know-”

_Please forgive me, my Vision, but I have to cut off the connection._

_Wan-_ the buzzing stopped with his voice. _“-_ the guilt of grieving someone, of trying to remember and him, _when you are falling in love with another?_ ”

When she finished with a shout, her words echoed off the white of the walls. The color drained from Agent Simmons face.

“I- I” she tried, but Wanda put up a braced hand to stop her.

“Every day I am tormented by guilt, knowing that had I done something, anything, differently, Pietro would still be standing beside me. You tell me this story of Will, and I hear my story. Well something very similar to it.” Wanda smirked. “What I am trying to say is, I understand how you feel.”

“I just made a giant fool of myself, didn’t I?” Agent Simmons sighed as she slid against an ivory panel to the floor.

“I just had a twenty-minute seizure in front of the team I was supposed to be protecting.” Wanda reached behind her for the metal railing to support her protesting body. “I think I win this round.”

“My emotions got the better of me unfortunately.”

Wanda shrugged. “That I understand as well. Agent Romanoff hates it so much. “Maximoff, stop looking so angry! Keep a straight face, don’t look like you’re about to rip their heart out!”” She mimicked her superior, flipping her hair back in forth for a dramatic flair. When Agent Simmons chuckled, she continued, “So you are afraid of hurting Agent Fitz? I didn’t read him as fragile.”

“He’s not really, he’s just… I’ve hurt him quite a bit in the past, and when he wanted to help me find Will, I buried the knife deeper. I know it wasn’t really Will he killed, but at the same time, it’s easier to blame Fitz instead of myself.  And the longer I take to grieve, the more I fear he loses hope. I fear I’m the reason our friendship is crumbling.” She blew up her cheeks and blew out a long breath of air.

“He won’t wait for you?” asked Wanda.

“I’m afraid he’ll wait for me forever if he has too. That he’ll just waste away, as I make him wait and wait trying to make up my mind. I’m a walking talking disaster for him.”

“Welcome to the club.”

Agent Simmons laughed again, before folding her hands in her lap.

Wanda whispered “Something tells me you have already made up your mind.”

“Yes,” she nodded with care. “but it feels like there is something there, pulling me back to Will. Do you feel that way?”

It was Wanda’s turn to nod. “There are days where it feels like my twin is haunting me. His voice, his face, his _stupid_ jokes, but most days, I think it’s me that is holding me back. I was so used to having Pietro beside me that I’ve never known what it is to choose something for myself.”

“And that’s another person?”

“Huh?”

“When you were yelling at me, you _totally_ admitted that you were in love.” Now there was a proud smile on her face.

“Maybe.” Wanda’s voice quieted but Agent Simmons continued to gloat.

“Who is he? Or her? You have to tell me now!”

“You’re changing the subject! What happened to you and Agent Fitz?”

“Wanda, now you're changing the subject.” she smirked in response.

Wanda was now leaning her full body weight against the hospital stretcher, avoiding eye contact with Agent Simmons. “It's complicated.” she admitted with sadness.

“Welcome to the club.” Agent Simmons repeated her words back to her with the first smile Wanda had seen.

“Not as complicated as going to another planet and being in love with two men simultaneously after killed the “other”, but yes, complicated.”

“I’m confused.” admitted Agent Simmons. “Complicated how, exactly?”

Wanda let out a long sigh before answering. “I don’t know if he even _can_ love me. And if he could, I’m not sure he even wants to.”

Agents Simmons’ wavelengths betrayed that despite Wanda’s purposefully poor attempt to verbalize, she did not understand any further. Meanwhile, the buzz in Wanda's head had begun once more with a vengeance and she knew that whether or not The Vision could or wanted to love her, he was now _pissed_ at her.

There was another minute of silence, only interrupted by the drone of The Bus. Agent Simmons was twiddling her thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

“Have you talked him?”

“Talked to him?” Wanda replied, her mind elsewhere.

“Mhm-hmm.” She nodded. “Why don’t you tell him?”

Wanda smirked. She was now slouching on the bed with her hip out. “That’s good advice for someone who avoided the topic for a year after their partner admitted they had feelings for her.”

“Hey Ms. Telepath! I did talk to Fitz!” Wanda stared at her. “Eventually!”

“Like I said, it is complicated.”

Wanda could sense that Agent Simmons’ thoughts were jumping all over the place as she tried to put Wanda’s hints together like a child attempts a puzzle for the first time. “Trust me.” she said with a stone face. “Just because it’s complicated doesn't mean you get to chicken out, not after I just saved your life. Take my advice: _don’t_ wait a year to tell him what you feel. I’m sure Captain America will understand even if doesn't reciprocate- “

“Wait,” Wanda stopped her. “You think I am in love with Captain America?”

“Well, of course-” Agent Simmons began but was interrupted once more by Wanda’s burst of laughter. It hurt her aching body to laugh, but she couldn’t help it. The idea that she was in love with her superior, when she knew his heart belonged to someone else, was hysterical. Her laughter bubbled off the walls as she laughed harder and harder until she was tearing up, gripping her side because it hurt so much and clutching the bed trying to stop. Agent Simmons reddened with embarrassment.

“Where did you get that absurd idea?” she asked in between breaths.

“It makes sense!” defended Agent Simmons over the sound of Wanda’s happy laughter. “You talk about him quite often and I saw him in your memories, and having a relationship with your superior would, in fact, be complicated!”

This only made Wanda laughed harder. “I talked about him once, Agent Simmons! Because you guys asked! Oh my God, I’m so sorry, this is just, _really_ funny.” Agent Simmons crossed her arms like pouting toddler and Wanda took a deep breath to stop laughing and calm the throbbing in her side.

“Agent Simmons, I can assure you, it’s not Captain America I’m in love with. I would tell you, but I can’t tell you who it really is because I’m not authorized. But it is more complicated than being in love with my superior.” She laughed.

“Are they on your new team?” pouted Agent Simmons.

Wanda smiled in response. “Yes. If it makes you feel better, he’s as smart and handsome as Captain America. So you weren’t completely wrong.”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone this! Or any of the Avengers either!”

Wanda limped over to where she sat. Sliding down next to her she said, “I swear, Agent Simmons. I think I owe that much.”

“That you do.” grumbled Agent Simmons. “Oh, and while we are at please don’t tell anyone what I said about Fitz either.”

“Does that include when I found you two sneaking out before sunrise?” Wanda giggled.

“Yes! Yes, it does!” She smacked Wanda on the shoulder. Wanda laughed some more before promising her lips were sealed. “So you meet up with him every morning?”

“Every morning. When I was on Maveth, there was no sun, so when I got back I became obsessed with the sunrise. He found me one morning there, and well, you know the rest.” Wanda drifted back to her days of experimentation, days she spent without a glimpse of the sun.

“What I read between the two of you, yesterday morning, tells me it’s going to be easier for you and Fitz than you think. You break, you bend, you heal and then you start over. It will make your relationship stronger.”

“And you?” Agent Simmons asked after several minutes of contemplation. “What will you do about this complicated relationship with this mysterious man?”

“I do not know yet. It seems that I can bend everyone else’s reality, but I can’t bend my own…” she trailed off. Instead of beating the matter any further, the two women sat there for what seemed an infinity, listening to the drone of the plane and the blinking of the lights. The buzzing in Wanda’s head had morphed into an angry vibration. _Oh my Vizh,_ she thought to herself, _how I wish I could make things less complicated and just tell you everything._

At some point, Wanda didn’t know when, a voice came through the ceiling. “Attention crew,” It was Agent May. over the plane intercom. “We’ll be landing in the Playground in about an hour.” Then came Agent Hunter’s familiar British drawl after, yelling “Oi, and Simmons! Fitz woke up and is asking about you!”

“That’s my cue.” With a graceful motion, she stood up and grabbed her medical kit. “You need to get back into that bed. Doctor’s orders.” She demanded, pointing from Wanda to the white stretcher.

Wanda rolled her eyes in mockery. “But mom…”

“No buts! I will not have any patients, Avenger or not, who doesn’t rest after a near deadly seizure.”

Having no choice, Wanda surrendered under Agent Simmons’ gaze and struggled up to the bed. Right as the doctor was leaving, Wanda remembered her jar of peanut butter and called out “Can you get my bag from my bunk? I promise I will stay here if you do!”

Agent Simmons turned around with an eye roll. “Fine. But stay!” and with that she was gone, her wavelengths focused on her beloved Fitz.

“I’m not getting my peanut butter, am I?” she whispered to herself. Now alone, she felt safe enough to reopen her connection with The Vision.

Her neck snapped at the sensation, and she smiled when she heard his voice.

_What the hell, Wanda?_

-

Fitz was going to be okay. In a few weeks, of course, but after Simmons had looked him over, he was awake, smiling, and sitting up in his bed high off of painkillers.

“You’re really pretty, Jemma…” he would drawl when she came to visit every couple of hours. She’d reply with a kiss on his cheek, and another dose of hydrocodone. His injuries would put an end to their morning rituals, but it gave Simmons a chance to process losing Will- and the idea Fitz had killed him- in way that was healthy.

 Wanda was also going to be fine. She showed no signs of permanent brain damage or any physical ailments, with the exception of a few purple bruises, a migraine, and a depletion of her peanut butter. Despite this, Hunter was still concerned he was “going to get an arrow through his hand” and it turned out, to everybody’s surprise, that he had reason to be. When they landed, Maria Hill’s stone face was waiting for Coulson on a computer screen.

“Have you ever been yelled at by four Avengers?” she asked the second they debarked.

“Hello to you too, Hill.” Coulson sighed.

“Because it’s not fun Coulson! I just spent an hour, _an entire hour_ , listening to ‘I’m going up there!’ ‘Did they not read our note?’ and my personal favorite: ‘What in the name of freedom were you thinking Hill?’ ”

Coulson raised an eyebrow. “Who said that?”

“Cap, but he may have been joking.” Hill shrugged. “I’m pretty sure. How bad is the damage? I couldn’t really understand them when they were all yelling.”

“She had an epileptic seizure, _but’s she fine now_!”

Again, all Hill did was shrug. “I’ll take your word for it and I’ll give it to the Avengers. Just hope she doesn’t tell Barton. _Then_ you’re in for a treat!” The two talked for a few minutes more, before Hill announced she was on her way in a Quin- Jet to get Wanda and hung up without a goodbye.

“How did the Avengers even know?”  Coulson cried out later in the debriefing room waving his prosthetic arm around in exasperation. “She wasn’t supposed to have any contact with her base!” May and the others offered him no ideas, but Simmons suspected it might have something to do with Wanda’s telepathy and this mysterious love she was so desperate to keep hidden. Eventually everybody gave up trying to form a plan to fight any possible ambush from Barton and Co, and abandoned the debrief for Mario Kart. Daisy was able to drag Wanda out of bed and convince her to play after a copious amount of sister-like begging.

The group took turns playing for several hours. “Captain America taught you well.” Daisy said with a dark look on her face every time Wanda passed her in the game. She then dubbed Wanda “Queen of the Blue Shell.”

Late that Sunday afternoon, the roar of the telltale Quin-Jet interrupted their game. In a sense of déjà vu, the whole team (minus a snoring Fitz) stood in the hangar, this time to see Wanda Maximoff in uniform, carrying her duffel bag, ready to go.

“You have to promise to come back and work with us again. We’ll have an Enhanced versus Inhuman battle royal and everything.” Daisy said as she hugged her new friend goodbye.

“Of course, Daisy. I look forward to it.” Wanda shook hands with Lincoln and side hugged Bobbi, thanking her for their Girl’s Night. She was bear hugged by a tearful Joey, whom was on the receiving end of “You’ve known her for five days, you big baby!” from Lincoln. Wanda ended by shaking hands with a grateful May and Coulson before turning to Hunter. “You’re pretty cool for an Avenger.”  was all he said.

Wanda laughed, something so light and bubbly against her thick accent, and told him “Thanks Agent Hunter. You’re pretty cool too.”

Finally, she turned to Simmons, who had been waiting in the back. To Wanda’s surprise, Simmons enveloped her a hug.

“Will you talk to Fitz?” Wanda whispered after she stepped away.

 “Only if you talk to Mr. Handsome-as-Captain America.”

“I told you! It’s complicated!”

 “Chicken.”

With that, Wanda shouldered her duffel bag, and walked up the bay of the Quin-Jet. She waved a last goodbye as the bay doors ascended. The last thing they saw was her throwing her head back in laughter once more after Hunter called out “Please don’t send the Avengers on us!” over the roar of the engines.

 After they had all gone back to their video game, Bobbi brandishing six packs of much needed beer, Simmons remembered what Ares had yelled out when he was manipulating Wanda during their fight.

 “Think of your android, Miss Maximoff! He’s expected this for such a long time!” he had shouted.

 “It’s complicated.” Wanda had said.

 She pulled a tipsy Daisy aside from an even tipsier Lincoln. “Hey Daisy,” she asked. “What do you think are the chances of artificial intelligence?”

 “Hasn’t that already been done by like Stark or somebody?” slurred Daisy.

“Yes, but what about… androids?”

 Daisy just laughed. “Simmons, I thought we dropped the idea that Fitz was a robot years ago!” and headed back to Lincoln’s lap.

 Simmons dropped it after that. It was just a silly hunch anyway.

-

The short flight back to the Facility brought Wanda more anxiety than the long flight to Greece. Despite wanting to return the minute she landed at the Playground less than a week ago, the thought of coming home now made her stomach threaten the loss of her lunch.

 “Hey, you okay?” Hill asked from the front seat as she flew the Quin-jet. “You’re look sick.”

 Wanda took a deep breath from her place as the co-pilot. “I’ll be fine.” The rest of their flight was spent in silence. Her nerves did not still when they landed; they merely increased in force as her psyche again registered the familiar lines generating from the Cortex, of Cap, Natasha, Sam, Wilson, and The Vision.

 After returning to the Playground, she and The Vision communicated at length when Agent Simmons put her on bedrest. Wanda laughed again when the first thing he did was he apologize in earnest for cursing at her.

_I’m sorry. That was odd and inappropriate of me._

_You don’t have to apologize, Vision. You have a right to be upset._

 Their conversation was a source of comfort for Wanda that night as it was long one without sleep, but as she entered the bright marble hallways of the Facility, it was rendered to a burdened. Agent Hill had abandoned her at some point to see Dr. Cho, leaving her to face the Avengers alone.

Wanda did not know if The Vision could love her but there were times she believed he almost did; she had her suspicions that the Mind Stone that gave him life was what let him feel. The Vision loved to observe other people, he loved to read books, any book, he found and discuss them, he loved to draw flowers and watch the stars. But he loved those things like Wanda loved peanut butter, her Yoda pajamas and Taylor Swift; Eros’ love for a person was not a simple emotion like anger or lust. It radiated off people with the harmony of many emotions acting as one, different for every individual she sensed it form. It was wonder, it was hope, it was patience, it was… And if she knew that The Vision could feel all of this individually, could he possibly feel it all at once, for her? Would she give herself hope that he could?

 Wanda was able to hear their voices now, flowing out of the Cortex.

 “You know you’re still going to have to train on Monday, Rhodey.” Natasha was saying. “Hungover or not.”

 “I’m not hungover, Romanoff! Tony gave me the flu!” protested Rhodey, who sneezed afterwards.

 Next came Sam’s frantic yells. “Man, get away from me! I don’t want you getting me sick!”

 “You’re still training on Monday.” Natasha sung and Steve laughed. They had not noticed she’d entered and was leaning on the chrome doorframe.

 “What did you guys do?” asked the Captain.

 “Well we were _supposed_ to go this political hearing with the mayor.” Rhodey spoke with his nose tipped up as he tried to breathe through his mouth. “But then I got there and Tony and Pepper were vomiting and I got to spend the whole week taking care of those two because _somebody- “_ he sent Vision an angry look. “decided to stay and play “knight in shining armor!” And how do they repay me? By getting me sick!”

 Chuckles reverberated off the ceiling and back to Wanda’s ears.

 “Or perhaps it’s just what you get for spending time with Stark.” she interrupted.

 There was a simultaneous “Wanda!” and the team was up and surrounding her. The Vision lingered at the table.

 “You came back, little red!” Wilson patted her on the back.

 “And in one piece. Nice bruise by the way.” Natasha added with her signature smirk.

 The Captain had a warm smile on his face and ruffled her hair. “You gave us a real scare there, Maximoff. Captain’s orders: don’t do it again!” Wanda laughed.

 “I’d shake your hand,” Rhodey wheezed next, “but I don’t want to get you sick.”

 There were few moments she stood with them around her; the air was filled with laughter and promise that tore away at Wanda’s doubt. She had not failed them, not all of them at least.

 “Hello, Vision.” Her voice was a quiet whisper.

 He only continued to stare at her.

 “Wanda, you’ve returned.” He said when he finally spoke.

 “Yes.”

 Wanda overhead the Captain lean towards Sam. “This is awkward, right?”

 “Very.”

 She took a few steps forward. Why was he acting this way? Last night he had been nothing if not kind and warm. Why choose now to be so cold?

 “I’ve- um- I’ve- “ she was searching in desperation for words that would not come- but then there was sudden surge of energy and the intimate sensation of being lifted off the ground. She melted into The Vision’s arms, aware of the strange looks they were getting as they levitated a few meters in the air, but in his arms, she forgot how to care.

 “I’ve missed you too.” He whispered into her ear. 

 She smiled with her eyes closed. “You didn’t have too much fun without me, did you?”

 “Actually, yes. I enjoyed the quiet.”

 Wanda opened her eyes and traded her smile for a smirk. “Oh, now you think you’re funny.”

 “Ugh, get a room you too!” Rhodey moaned.

 “And get down!” Natasha demanded. “Before you hit your heads on our perfectly good ceiling.”

 The Vision carried her gently back to the ground, but he did not let her go from his arms. The meaningless chatter of their teammates had started again.

 “With Rhodey and Red back, guess everything’s back to normal.” Sam was telling their Captain.

 “Please don’t make me train!” Rhodey begged. He was straggling out back to the table. “I don’t want to throw up in my suit! You know how long it takes to clean.”

 “No, and I don’t really care.” Natasha intoned with an eye-roll.

 _Can we talk later?_ Wanda asked him with her arms still around his neck. His eyes went wide.

_Of course, Wanda. Can I inquire about what?_

_Something that’s been on my mind… for a while now._

_Do you wish to communicate telepathically?_

 All of sudden, Sam sneezed. “Dammit! Look what you did, man!”

_No. This is something I should say out loud. How about you meet me on the rooftop tonight in the usual place.?_

 “Haha, now the rest of you jackasses get spend a week sick!”

_I’d enjoy that, Wanda._

 Agent Simmons could kiss her ass. She was an Avenger, not a chicken, and if she wanted something, she would damn well try for it. Wanda could only hope that Agent Simmons would someday come to the same conclusion. Meanwhile, The Vision took her braced hand and led her out of the room to follow a bored Natasha and Steve, a sneezing Rhodey, and even angrier sneezing Sam.

 

Hand in hand, she walked out with him, leaving everything in her wake, burning, bleeding red…

_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Couple things  
> 1) I was in a rush to get this up before Tuesday, so it wasn't beta'd. 2) Wanda Maximoff is a cannon mentally ill character. I will hold onto this fact until the day I die.  
> 3) I just made up a random back story for Bobbi. 4) Abigail Williams was one of the girls who claimed to be affected during the Salem Witch Trials. 5) what is formatting?
> 
> We're cool, right?


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